ON LOVE; PART DCLXXIII
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GoodWill IS Love in Action
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FIRST IS THE GREAT COMMANDMENTS: “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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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.
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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).
As we continue with our words on grace today we are reminded that the reality of the Christ Within, the dispenser of grace to the man in the world as his revelations and realizations, IS one of the great mysteries of Life but one that IS hinted at by many of the words of the Master and His apostles. For us the clearest of these hints IS found in that most dynamic saying by the Master as He tells us that: “The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21). Doctrine paints these words in many different ways but seldom IS this seen as it IS stated; that the Kingdom of God IS within the Life of the man in the world. Most see this Kingdom as a place while we understand the reality of the Master’s words and see this as a state of being and the eternal residence, if we can use this idea here, of the Christ and of the Father. And so then for the man in the world; the Kingdom IS within his Life and in that Kingdom IS a man’s own part of the Christ and of the Father which we refer to as the Christ and the God Within.
And it IS the Kingdom that we seek with the greater understanding that in finding the Kingdom we find God and we find the Christ as these are inseparable Aspects of the Trinity that IS God which idea IS also only hinted at by the Master and His apostles. The Master tells us that we should seek the Kingdom and this too IS a wholly misunderstood part of the teaching of the Master; for us this means that this IS our objective, our spiritual objective, and we should try to see in Matthew’s version that the grace of the Kingdom can then be ours. Jesus tells us “seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33) and we should be able here to see the connection here….that as we find the Kingdom we find His righteousness as well. This IS the nature of the striving of men, that they “Strive to enter in at the strait gate” (Luke 13:24) of which we KNOW the reality: that if we should be able to enter this, we have found the Truth of Life as we read in the Master’s words saying: “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Matthew 7:13-14). None of these ideas are clearly stated and perhaps if we could see the idea of the Kingdom of God as the Presence of God we can see this ALL somewhat more clearly.
We have ofttimes discussed our view of how it IS possible for the man to enter into the Kingdom that IS within and, while this IS ALL painted for us in such a way as to keep the mystery from those who DO NOT yet see the realities and the Truths, there ARE some rather clear sayings that DO show us the way. Among these we find the Master’s words that separate the KNOWER from the man who see reality through doctrines; Jesus says: “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). Here IS the reality of our ability to enter the Kingdom of God: that we keep His words which MUST be seen as the same as “the will of my Father which is in heaven“; this we KNOW from the Master’s own words that say “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 14:24). This connection IS NOT seen in the common understanding of either of these sayings but the link here IS indelible and, in the words from the Sermon on the Mount, the Master goes on to further explain His message saying:
“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. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:21:23).
The reality here IS clear and the intended idea of just what IS “the will of my Father which is in heaven” should be clear from the idea cited above from John’s Gospel as well as many others….it IS a matter of DOING which some try to reduce to the ideas of faith and believing as we see in this from John Gill who says: intends not merely outward obedience to the will of God, declared in his law, nor barely subjection to the ordinances of the Gospel; but more especially faith in Christ for life and salvation; which is the source of all true evangelical obedience, and without which nothing is acceptable to God. He that seeth the Son, looks unto him, ventures on him, commits himself to him, trusts in him, relies on him, and believes on him for righteousness, salvation, and eternal life, he it is that does the will of the Father, and he only; and such an one, as he is desirous of doing the will of God in all acts of cheerful obedience to it, without dependence thereon; so he shall certainly enter the kingdom of heaven, and have everlasting life 8. Can we see the contrast between the Master’s words and these doctrinal ideas from Mr. Gill which ARE NOT spoken of anywhere in the words of the Master. And there IS another contrast built in by the Master, a contrast between the man who IS a DOER of the Will of the Father, the man who DOES keep His words, and the man who may have the wherewithal to perform certain works but who at the same time DOES NOT keep His words and who perhaps performs whatsoever he can DO in a more carnal approach which is centered the self in the world.
The greater reality here IS not to be seen in the idea of those that “prophesied in thy name” or them that “have cast out devils” or who have done “many wonderful works“; the greater reality IS to be found in those who have NOT DONE “the will of my Father which is in heaven” but whom may believe that they have or even claim that they DO. Here we should understand as well that it IS in this DOING “the will of my Father which is in heaven” that one can be seen as seeking “the kingdom of God, and his righteousness” and it IS in ALL of these ideas that the mystery of the Kingdom IS hidden in plain sight. The reality of these ideas should be clear to ALL who Truly strive toward that strait gate and the Master qualifies the idea of those who DO NOT strive in His rhetorical question which we read in Luke’s Gospel saying “And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). This idea from Luke, this rhetorical question, should be seen in the same light as the words above from Matthew’s Gospel; in both there ARE those who call “Lord, Lord” but who DO NOT DO as He says, those who DO NOT DO “the will of my Father which is in heaven“. Following both of these views of the Truth of DOING we find the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Builders which goes thus:
“Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like: He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock. But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great” (Luke 6:47-49).
Here again we have a rather straightforward parable that can easily equate those who DO NOT DO the words of this particular Sermon, and by extension ALL of His words, to the foolish and, while the idea here IS clear, the doctrinal approach makes it ever more confounding by introducing concepts and ideas that are gleaned from the later writings of the apostles. Here the message IS clear and straightforward and IS directed at the man who DOES and shows his reward which IS the Truth of grace. Much of this constitutes a part of the mysteries of the Kingdom of God against which the Master tells us that He speaks parabolically but we should be able to see here that much of this IS rather clearly stated and hence the greater mystery of hiding the Truth in plain sight and in such a way as that the man who would see the reality must also see and admit his own standing against the Truth of God.
The greater point here is that this ability to see even that which IS hidden in plain sight IS the result of the grace of God that flows to a man from His own Soul as realization and revelation and while this may NOT always be so profound as we read here in the Master’s dialogue with the Apostle Peter on whom we spoke much in the last essay, this IS revelation nonetheless and some of this IS most profound to the aspirant and the disciple as it resets his course toward discipleship and the Kingdom of God. The dialogue goes thus:
“When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 16:13-19).
This IS the most complete version of this encounter from the synoptic gospels and there IS much interdenominational dispute concerning this and the status of the Apostle Peter. That aside we should try to see the reality hidden in these words, along with the reality that Peter IS set out to be our example of True discipleship and the growth of the Kingdom Within as we discussed in the last post. We should see that this reward of grace to Peter IS the reward of grace to ALL men who can so achieve…not to say these words only but to KNOW them intimately as disciples of the Master under Jesus own definition of discipleship as He says: “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). In this we should see the Truth of keeping His words and believing on Him; the idea of keeping IS found in the believing as we read from Vincent who tells us that to believe on or to believe in the Master IS to accept and adopt His precepts and example as binding upon the life 4.
And the Truth IS that these who keep His words and who continue in them ARE “disciples indeed“. In this we can see the reality of Jesus address to Peter who as a disciple has earned the grace which includes the parabolic “keys of the kingdom of heaven” and which understands that ALL things that the disciple will DO are things of God and, in this parabolic language, we should try to see the idea of this divine nature bringing to the world the things of God and bringing to heaven the fruits of the Life of the disciple in the world. These ideas of binding and loosing ARE most obscure and there ARE many ideas offered by doctrine which range from a legalistic view based in Jewish doctrine and tradition to a view where the apostle is able to make doctrine; none measure up to the reality of the divine Life of the disciple moving in the world and bringing with it a measure of grace and the results of that grace.
In beginning this essay on the mysteries of the Kingdom and of Life we intended to go from the Kingdom Within to the Christ Within and the God Within as these ARE treated by the New Testament. We should try to see here how that if a man can realize one of these that he can realize ALL as these ARE inseparable. ALL of this IS a product of grace, of the increasing grace that IS the realization of the aspirant and the disciple, and ALL of this brings some degree of divinity into the world of men. Most ALL of what we speak of here in today’s essay IS seen much differently by doctrines which DO NOT recognize the reality of His words but concentrate their ideas on the workings of the carnal mind and emotions of men in the world. In the ways of men and of the world the spiritual Truths can become muddied and lost as they are seen only through the illusion and the glamour of Life. To see clearly one must focus his Life upon the Truth of God; not the interpreted Truths of doctrine but the Truth in His words where we can realize how far from His perfection we are and understand that perfection as our goal and our objective.
The relationship between God and man IS set forth for us in the gospels and IS encapsulated in the simple words, the rhetorical question of the Master that asks: “And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?“….this IS our Way to the Kingdom and the revelation of the mysteries. There IS much mystery and much that IS hidden from view as we see above; the Kingdom IS but one mystery however and there IS another that IS of equal importance and which is equally misunderstood; the Truth of the Soul as that divine nature of man. This IS alluded to by Jesus, especially in the Gospel of John, and this IS straightforwardly dealt with by the Apostle Paul as we read this to close our today post:
“If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister; Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church: Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God; Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus” (Colossians 1:23-28).
We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.
| Aspect |
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.
This Quote of the Day is the antithesis of glamour and illusion. In this mantram are the thoughts about ourselves and our brothers in the world that can diffuse those forces that hold a man in the world of things and prevent his spiritual progress.
Mantram of Unification
The sons of men are one and I am one with them.
I seek to love, not hate;
I seek to serve and not exact due service;
I seek to heal, not hurt.
Let pain bring due reward of light and love.
Let the Soul control the outer form, and life and all events,
And bring to light the love that underlies the happenings of the time.
Let vision come and insight.
Let the future stand revealed.
Let inner union demonstrate and outer cleavages be gone.
Let love prevail.
Let all men love.
The Mantram of Unification is a meditation and a prayer that at first affirms the unity of all men and the Brotherhood of Man based on the Fatherhood of God. The first stanza sets forth several truly Christian ideals in Unity, Love, Service and Healing. The second stanza is a invocation to the Lord and to our own Souls asking that from the pain (if there can truly be any) incurred in focusing on the Spirit and not the world will come Light and Love into our lives and that we begin to function as Souls through our conscious personalities. We ask that the spiritual control of our lives will bring to light for us the Love that underlies world events; a Love that the world oriented man will not see working out behind the scenes and also that the Love that we bring forth, individually and as a world group, can be seen by all and ultimately in all. Finally, in the last stanza we ask for those things that are needed for Love to abound. Vision and insight so that we can direct our attention properly; revelation of the future in the sense that all can see the Power of Love in the world; inner union so that we do not fall back into the world’s ways, that we faint not; and that a sense of separation, the antithesis of brotherhood, ends as we know it today. Let Love Prevail, Let All Men Love.spiritual control of our lives will bring to light for us the Love that underlies world events; a Love that the world oriented man will not see working out behind the scenes.
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
