Monthly Archives: September 2014

ON LOVE; PART DCCXLI

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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).

In the last essay we continued our discussion on grace from the perspective of the Epistle of John where the idea of Love plays out its role as the unifying idea of discipleship and of salvation, which IS the reality of being accounted worthy of the Kingdom of God as seen through the eyes of the man in the world. The Apostle John ties the idea of Love for God, Love for man and the keeping of His words into a neat package that should be easily understood but which has been manipulated by doctrines which choose to limit the scope of the ideas that he offers regarding Love while ignoring the greater reality of keeping His words. Much of what we see as the doctrinal ignoring of the Master’s words and the the affirming words of His apostles IS founded in a admixture of ideas from the the New Testament which ARE mixed together to show that man CAN NOT achieve the Truth of the Presence of God, that it IS NOT possible that he can do so. This view IS of course contrary to the words of Jesus who tells us that we CAN and that we must keep His words as the price to pay for His Kingdom and His Presence in our Life. It IS in the True understanding of this and in the underlying idea that by measure, by degree in our terms, we can Truly achieve this grace, this revelation and this realization of our divine nature; and that we can express this through our Life in this world.

And John tells us that Jesus’ words ARE NOT so difficult that we CAN NOT accomplish them as we see in his words that we have been using over the last two essays; we read: “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous” (1 John 5:3). Many millions of men today claim that they Love God and many of these are caught in the doctrinal rap that tells them that they CAN NOT and that they need NOT conform to the clearly written words. a rap which substitutes, in the place of DOING, the ideas of believing and of faith and these from a most carnal perspective. These ideas from John ARE NOT any different than the words of the Master that we have been posting; His words that equate Love for Him with keeping His words and show this as a quid pro quo through which we attain His Presence, the Presence of God in Life. And this must be viewed from the perspective of the man in the world which IS the perspective of grace; the perspective of the revelation and realization of the hidden Truths of Life….the Truth of the Christ Within which the Apostle Paul reveals to those who can grasp his meaning as he tells us of the Christ in you; we read: “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” (Colossians 1:27). Again, we should understand that this word rendered as gentiles should be seen simply as men and it IS rendered as such by some as we see in this from Young’s Literal translation: “to whom God did will to make known what [is] the riches of the glory of this secret among the nations — which is Christ in you, the hope of the glory“. The “to whom” here IS to the saints, to those who are considered as holy which IS to say those who DO keep His words, the commandments of the Master and of God.

The point here IS that this very idea of the Christ Within IS a protected secret; NOT protected in words but protected in understanding as one CAN NOT realize this Truth until his focus comes to the things of God; NOT as doctrine perceives this but as the Master’s words and the words of His apostles show us. It IS in this sense of focus upon God that the more nebulous ideas of doctrine become the reality of His Presence which IS evidenced by the ever growing divine nature of a man’s thoughts, attitudes and actions. While doctrine allows men to claim this Love for God in the simplicity of their various theologies, the Truth remains as John states it above: “that we keep his commandments“. In this we should see the amplification and the clarification of the Master’s own words saying:

• “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him”  (John 14:21).
• “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).

In these words from Jesus we should see the reality of grace, the Truth of revelation and realization as it comes to the consciousness of man. This grace IS His Presence, this grace comes to the man who Loves Him and this Love IS seen in the greater simplicity of His words that “If a man love me, he will keep my words“. And in the words of the John we have the extension of this idea as he tells us that “If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us” (1 John 4:12); in this we have that same grace, that same Presence of God, brought down to this totally human level of “Thou shalt love thy neighbour” which IS the second of the Great Commandments that we have again at the top of our essay. Here, in addition to the Truth “that we keep his commandments“, which in itself includes the Great Commandments, we have the more specific message that “we love one another” and, so that this idea of Love IS better understood, the apostle ties this to our Love for God as well; we read: “this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also”  (1 John 4:21). It IS in these words plus the totaltity of the message from Jesus and from His apostles that we get the reality of our salvation which IS the fullness of our realization and revelations of Truth, the fullness of grace in the Life of man and the expression of that grace as the operation of the Spirit of God in one’s Life. It IS the Holy Spirit by measure, the same measure as of grace and its expression, that brings us the greater realizations as we read in our current selection from the fourteenth chapter of the Gospel of John:

“But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe. Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me. But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence” (John 14:26-31).

In this idea that the Holy Spirit “shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance” we have the essence of the growth of grace in the Life of the man in the world and we should remember here that having this grace and expressing it ARE intimately tied together; that the flow of grace will only continue by its expression which IS the Truth of Loving God and keeping His words. These ideas ARE the reality of discipleship and of attaining the Kingdom and, while John tells us that “his commandments are not grievous” to show us that we CAN DO as He instructs, he goes yet further so as we can see the greater Truths behind the Master’s words that “the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do” (John 14:12); this we read the apostle’s words saying: “as he is, so are we in this world“. It IS against these realities that doctrines stand, in an inexplicable position of denial, as the view of many has become that man CAN NOT DO what IS necessary to please God; most miss the most basic idea of His Presence, that it IS the God and the Christ Within that allow for the man to DO and this Presence ONLY comes in DOING. Here again there IS an apparent circular reference but this IS one that IS resolved in the reality of striving and in the Truth of the Master’s message about the growth of the Kingdom of God….not some outer Kingdom but the Kingdom of God Within. It IS in the ancient reaches of Christianity, in the view of the Early Church Fathers, that these ideas that man CAN NOT DO originate; perhaps in the ease of interpreting the Truth into more human terms or perhaps in seeking the easier way to ‘feel’ good spiritually that can be found in out of context sayings, doctrines have diluted and changed the basic Truths of our deliverance “from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:20).

While we pick the ideas of John Gill to show the ideas of doctrine, we should understand that he IS NOT alone in his thoughts; his words ARE readily available and ARE among the more respected doctrinal ideas that have been published. Here, in relation to the words of John that we have been using we read Mr. Gills comments: For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments, Keeping of the commandments of God is an evidence of love to God; this shows that love is not in word and tongue, in profession only, but in deed and in truth; and that such persons have a sense of the love of God upon their souls, under the influence of which they act; and such shall have, and may expect to have, greater manifestations of the love of God unto them: and his commandments are not grievous; heavy, burdensome, and disagreeable; by which are meant, not so much the precepts of the moral law, which through the weakness of the flesh are hard to be kept, and cannot be perfectly fulfilled; though believers indeed, being freed from the rigorous exaction, curse, and condemnation of the law, delight in it after the inward man, and serve it cheerfully with their spirit; and still less the commands of the ceremonial law, which were now abolished, and were grievous to be borne; but rather those of faith in Christ, and love to the saints, ( 1 John 3:23 ) ; or it may be the ordinances of the Gospel, baptism, and the Lord’s supper, with others, which though disagreeable to unregenerate persons, who do not care to be under the yoke of Christ, however easy and light it is, yet are not heavy and burdensome to regenerate ones; and especially when they have the love of God shed abroad in them, the presence of God with them, communion with Jesus Christ, and a supply of grace and strength from him; then are these ways ways of pleasantness, and paths of peace, and the tabernacles of the Lord are amiable and lovely ⁸.

Can we see the point here? That in these doctrines of men the words of the Master ARE made to have “none effect” and this much as the Master shows us regarding the traditions and the doctrines of the Jews in those days. We read in the Master’s words that they, the Jews, had made “the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye” (Mark 7:13) and we should try to see their effect yet today. This presumed inability of men to DO IS contrary to Jesus words as we read above regarding His Presence and contrary to His words regarding our Way to the Kingdom of God about which He tells us about calling Him Lord, that this IS NOT sufficient; that we need to keep His words. While we read the clarity of His words 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” (Matthew 7:21), much of doctrines sees this differently, as though He IS speaking just to those Jews. We should understand that it IS NOT ONLY them in that day that ARE calling Him Lord and believing in their salvation based upon this, it IS the many millions who have followed them over the centuries and the millions that are here in this Earth yet today. And this IS the point behind His rhetorical question that asks “why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46), as well as the reality of the words of the Apostle James who tells us clearly that we must be “be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22).

In all of these ideas we find the Truth of salvation, the Truth of the Kingdom of God….that ALL IS found in the DOING, in keeping His words; in this IS one’s Love for God and Christ and in this IS the reality of His Presence. A Presence which IS hidden from view by the minds of men whose lives are yet trapped in the world of illusion and of glamour….a world of deception. And it IS the Presence of God in Life that enables a man to be a DOER but, at the same time, this Presence requires that a man Truly strive toward the things of God; it IS this striving that we experience in Repentance. We should note again that many millions believe that they have the Presence of God in their carnal lives and many of these may have some inkling of such; the True Power of His Presence however only comes to the man who can DO as the Master shows us in our sayings above from the fourteenth chapter of John, this IS the True source of grace and the reality of the Holy Spirit. It IS in keeping His words that this Power IS unlocked in one’s Life and up to this point, while there may be glimpses, there IS NO True revelation nor realization of one’s own divine nature, there IS only some amount of grace that is proportionate to ones DOING.

We close today with the last line from our current selection; with the Master’s words saying “But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do“. In this we should see the reality of His example and we should see the purpose of it as well. Jesus shows His Love for the Father in a display to the world which should show men that this IS the way; this IS the reality that “as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do“. In this there IS NO purpose other than the reality of Love for God and its display so “that the world may know“. This IS the same thing that He tells us in our sayings above, that it IS in DOING that we can show this Love and, while He does not seek reward for Himself, He does show us the promise of our reward, our measure of grace, in our keeping His words….the reward of the True Presence of God and His Spirit in our lives. Our thoughts here on this chapter from the Gospel of John ARE NOT as most men believe but they ARE, to the man who will read His words away from his preconceptions and away from his sense of doctrine, the greater reality of the message of the Lord who patiently asks ALL men: “why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?“.

We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.

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.

We repeat here again a saying that is from the Bhagavad Gita, which goes well with our theme of the God Within, the Soul, which we see as the Christ Within and while this is good in the Christian world and is True based upon our understanding of the Christ as the manifestation of God, we should also see in these words below that it does not matter what these divine ideas are called; that it matters not what we call this Inner Man, that he is the same in ALL, he is the Soul.

Thou carriest within thee a sublime Friend whom thou knowest not. For God dwells in the inner part of every man, but few know how to find Him. The man who sacrifices his desires and his works to the Beings from whom the principles of everything stem, and by whom the Universe was formed, through this sacrifice attains perfection. For one who finds his happiness and joy within himself, and also his wisdom within himself is one with God. And, mark well, the soul which has found God is freed from rebirth and death, from old age and pain, and drinks the water of Immortality.—Bhagavad-Gita

It is difficult to tell just what verses of the Bhagavad Gita the above is from; whether it is a paraphrase or a combination. It is from the book “The Great Initiates” by Édouard Schuré which was originally published in French in 1889 and perhaps it is in the translation of the verses that they become hard to recognize. However, the sheer beauty of the presentation caught my attention and so I share it with you. The Path to the Kingdom is the same no matter what religion one professes.

Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!

• ⁸ Bible commentaries on BibleStudyTools.com