Monthly Archives: February 2014

ON LOVE; PART DXLII

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GoodWill IS Love in Action

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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” (Mark 12:29-31).

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“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” (Matthew 22:36-40).

In the last essay we explored some of our thoughts as they relate to the idea of perfect as it IS used by the Master and His apostles. The definitions attached to this word by doctrine as complete, mature and excellence are valid but ONLY when viewed with the intent of the Master’s words; these ideas have naught to do with any doctrinal presentation of believing and faith that IS short of keeping His words and expressing that universal Love for ALL as we read in the Great Commandments above. The completeness in perfection IS in being the complete disciple, the man who can express the fullness of the Love and the Power of the Christ Within to the world of men. We can see the idea of mature in much the same way; there IS NO doctrinal idea that will work in this sense of coming of age save the sense of being the mature disciple in the world, the man whose focus IS firmly fixed upon the Good, the Beautiful and the True, the things of God. As to excellence, we have much the same reality and if we look at this in the nature of the Master’s words to the rich young man who calls Him good we can see the greater reality; the Master says: “Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments” (Matthew 19:17). This Greek word agathos that is rendered as good can range from satisfactory to excellent and in this context, speaking of God, we should of course see excellent. And this is the point of perfect from the Master’s perspective that God IS perfect and that we must be as God; this IS our goal and this IS what we strive toward as disciples and aspirants.

And it IS here that we must not sell ourselves short; it is here that we must realize that it IS the Master tells us this and in this we should see that this IS possible to the man who so strives as are the “greater works” that the Master also promises saying “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do”  (John 14:12). It is unfortunate that the much of the doctrinal church DOES NOT believe these idea can apply to men but this IS because their point of view IS wrong; they see the man in the world while the Master sees the expression of divinity for the man who has achieved this perfection that IS ONLY found in believing on Him which we understand as keeping His words. Again we repeat Vincent’s words on this for clarity:

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 life ⁴

And in this reality the doctrinal interpretation can be seen as valid while at the same time it IS NOT True:

• John Gills says in part that: ….we are not to understand these words of everyone that believes in Christ, of every private believer in him, but only of the apostles, and each of them, that were true believers in him: to whom he says ….and greater works than these shall he do; meaning, not greater in nature and kind, but more in number; for the apostles, in a long series of time, and course of years, went about preaching the Gospel, not in Judea only, but in all the world ⁸. These “greater things” ARE NOT for those casual believers; they are for the True believers, those whom Vincent defines above and who we see as keeping His words.
• The Commentary Critical and Explanatory of the Whole Bible sees this a bit differently as they say: His works ought to remove them works of His were designed merely to aid weak faith, and would be repeated, nay exceeded, by His disciples, in virtue of the power He would confer on them after His departure. His miracles the apostles wrought, though wholly in His name and by His power, and the “greater” works–not in degree but in kind–were the conversion of thousands in a day, by His Spirit accompanying them ⁸. Here it is stated that these “greater works” are in the conversion of others and that this power is conferred upon the apostles as a magical event that allowed them access to this greatness. Here again it IS inferred that this IS to the disciples in that day and not to the man of tomorrow.

The point here is that these doctrinal ideas DO NOT allow for the divinity of men to flourish in the Earth; ideas that say that these verses are just for the disciples and apostles in that day ARE in our view false assertions though there there ARE some denominations that will agree with this part of what we say. It is unfortunate that many have of these denominational founders have decided the reality of divinity for us and have thereby closed many doors to the Truth. Our view is clear and it is supported by the words of the Master and the apostles when seen in the Light of day. When the Apostle John tells us that “as he is , so are we in this world“, we see this as a great Truth while this is seen by some to be in regard to the appearance of Jesus; but the reference here IS God. We should likely see this as that Christ Jesus IS God in this world and our being as He IS should be seen in the fullness of the apostles statement as the appearance alone offers us nothing from which we would satisfy the first part of this saying: “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” (1 John 4:16-17). The reality here IS in the simplicity of this saying; that we ARE ALL the same and we ARE ALL “as he is…. in this world“; divine Souls expressing Life through forms in the Earth and, while we are waiting for that time when we can express the fullness of Soul Life, the Master has already done so.

From our perspective, as we read the message of the Master and His apostles, the objective of Life IS to come to that ability, as the True man, the Soul, to look past the attractions and the attachments to the things of the world and to see the Truth of one’s own divinity. The scriptures ARE our training manual to accomplish this by the change in the focus of one’s Life from these attachments and attractions, these desires for the pleasures of carnal Life which the Master calls for us those “treasures upon earth“, to a new focus upon the things of God, the Truth of divine nature, which the Master calls for us “treasures in heaven“. It IS this focus of his Life that defines the man at any given time and a man’s success in following the instructions given IS dependent upon this focus. Here the Master finishes His thought saying “where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:19, 20, 21). It is the heart, the conscious awareness of the man in the world, that IS either focused upon the self or upon the things of God and, of course, the training manual is designed to change that focus away from the self which requires certain effort by the man which is outlined in glimpses of reality in the New Testament. Some words and sayings ARE clear as day while much else is hidden away in parables and parabolic language that is only discerned by the man whose True focus IS changing, the man who can see the reality of those more clear sayings and chief among these are the Master’s many words on Love.

When a man has come to that ability to look past the things of the world, he becomes ready for the next phase which IS also offered to him in the words of the Master and His apostles and this phase is one of service. It is here, as the aspirant and the disciple, that a man comes to understand the reality of his accomplishment which IS to help his brothers to move forward in their own efforts towards the realization of divinity and this IS the True message of the Great Commission as it is called in doctrine. In this the man works as did the disciples of Jesus that we read about in the gospels as they are sent out on their own to teach and to serve and there are many lessons hidden away in these words from the apostles. And the reality of this serving IS ALL consuming as it becomes the Way of Life for the disciple and for the aspirant and in this idea we can likely see yet another reason for the forsaking that must eventually take a man away from ALL distractions of self. The charge in the end of Matthew’s Gospel IS that the disciple make disciples of ALL men and to do so by teaching them those things that the Master had commanded and we should easily see here why it IS ONLY the disciple who can do this as by definition it IS the disciple who keeps His words. And as service becomes the Way of the disciple the words of the Master can perhaps make ever more sense as He says to those who have worked diligently “So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say , We are unprofitable servants : we have done that which was our duty to do” (Luke 17:10).

This IS the reality of the disciple, that he serves and that he becomes consumed with ever more service as his heart turns to playing more than his part in bringing the Plan of God to fruition on the Earth. And the Great Commission becomes the personal motivation and goal for each man as he attains that necessary state of the awareness of his own divinity. Three versions follow, our own rendering, the King James and Young’s Literal Translation; the rational for our own rendering can be read in In the Words of Jesus part 725:

• Our own rendition: “Go ye therefore, and make disciples of ALL men, immersing them into the Truth of the Trinity of God: Teaching them to keep ALL things that I have commanded you as disciples: and, behold, I am with you ALL the days, even unto the consummation of the age“
• Our original King James Version renders this as: “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 28:19-20).
• Young’s Literal Translation renders this way: “having gone, then, disciple all the nations, (baptizing them — to the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all, whatever I did command you,) and lo, I am with you all the days — till the full end of the age“

Returning to that affirmation of discipleship below that we have been discussing, we should note that in the right understanding there IS NO difference between its words and the words of the Great Commission. The affirmation centers on Love as does the Master’s teachings. The affirmation focuses upon eliminating those things that distract a man from the Truth of His own divinity and which blot out that Light of the Soul and this same thing is found throughout the gospels and epistles and, for example, we have those words on treasure above. The affirmation shows forth the importance of service and and this is again a large part of the teachings of the Master and we see this working out in the Life  of His apostles. Service IS the result of understanding the deeper Truths found in the idea of Love as the Master teaches us and of this Jesus tells us clearly: “he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve. For whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? is not he that sitteth at meat? but I am among  you as he that serveth” (Luke 22:26-27). In these words IS the nature of our service and the example of the the Master and in the words below is our own realization of these Truths.

My Soul has purpose, power and will; these three are needed on the Way of Liberation.
My Soul must foster love among the sons of men; this is its major purpose.
I, therefore, will to love and tread the Way of Love. All that hinders and obstructs the showing of the Light must disappear before the purposes of the Soul.
My will is one with the great Will of God;. that Holy Will requires that all men serve. And unto the purposes of the Plan I lend my little will.

We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.

Aspect of God	Potency	Aspect of Man	In Relation to the Great Invocation	In relation to the Christ
GOD, The Father	Will or Power	Spirit or Life	Center where the Will of God IS KNOWN	Life
Son, The Christ	Love and Wisdom	Soul or Christ Within	Heart of God	Truth
Holy Spirit	Light or Activity	Life Within	Mind of God	Way

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.

Staying on the theme of Love we repeat again the sayings of the Apostle Paul that puts this Love into perspective.

But earnestly desire the best gifts.

And yet I show you a more excellent way.

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love,

I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.

And though I have the gift of prophecy,

and understand all mysteries and all knowledge,

and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains,

but have not love, I am nothing.

And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor,

and though I give my body to be burned,

but have not love, it profits me nothing.

And now abide faith, hope, love, these three;

but the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 12:31, 13:1-3,13

(New King James Version)

Regardless of our daily theme, the underlying theme of our posts and of this entire blog is Love. In these words from Paul we should be able to see the overriding importance of Love in the Life of each of us. This is a common theme throughout the gospels and the other writings of the apostles and a theme that is not nearly understood. As in the ideas above from Sermon on the Mount and our comments on the affirmation that had been our Quote of the Day, these words from Paul impart a better understanding of the reality of Life, the Life of the True man as the Christ Within, the Soul, through a True understanding of the power and the purpose of Love and we should note here as well that this expression of Love IS the Will of God and this we should see clearly in the Truth that “God IS love” (1 John 4:8).

We repeat here what we said about these verses in a prior post: Today’s Quote of the Day from the Apostle Paul is his testimony to the power of Love. After speaking at length about the gifts of the Spirit that one should desire in order to be of service to the Lord, he says plainly that Love is a more excellent way. Love in the context of these verses is not the sentimental or affectionate kind that we ordinarily think of but rather 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. This

Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!

• ⁴ Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
• ⁸ Bible commentaries on BibleStudyTools.com