IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 1195

ON LOVE; PART DCCLXXXIV

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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)

So much of the current confusion in Christianity today IS based upon the teachings of the Church Fathers in the early days of the church and the teaching of the Reformers which began as early as the twelfth century. It IS these men who had taken authority and had promulgated the tenets of the various doctrinal approaches to God and it IS this diversity of beliefs and doctrines that has resulted in the many thousands of denomination and sects of Christianity that exist today. We should note here that these men, these Church Fathers and Reformers as well as the many who have succeeded them, have taken their authority to promulgate as individuals and that while each may claim some special dispensation from God or from the Christ, that there IS little or NO Truth in their claims; the basis for most ALL religions is founded in the minds of men, in their carnal minds and emotional response. There IS little doctrinal agreement among the major divisions of Christianity and many of the denominations decry the teachings of the others; it IS in this reality that we should see that none of them have the Truth. We should try to see that ALL of them can find some place to fit into the the ideas from the Apostle John’s Epistle that we have been discussing and we should try to see here that the reality of John’s use of the idea of the antichrist IS NOT as this IS commonly perceived. The reality of John’s usage of this word IS found in ALL who speak with authority in ways that ARE contrary to the True teachings of the Master. This however DOES NOT make the promulgators of doctrines evil as we understand this word; it rather leaves them in the realm of men in this world who ARE confusing their own mental and emotional personality truths with the Truth of the anointing, the Truth of the revelation and realizations of that Truth that flow from one’s own Soul. The Truth of one’s anointing revelation comes to the man who keeps His words, it comes only by measure to the man who expresses the Truth of the Master’s words and the commandments of God through his Life in this world. In this measure IS some version of Truth and some degree of realization of the One Truth, a realization that IS ofttimes mistaken for the whole Truth and built into the doctrinal pronouncements of men. We read the apostles words again:

“whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us. 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” (1 John 3:17-24, 4:1-6).

While there IS much more to John’s words, this selection shows us the relationship of Love, grace as the revelation of Truth, and the habits of men who, through the glamour and illusion of Life in this world, believe that they can Truly see. And we ourselves ARE NOT immune to this reality of Life on this Earth, we too see things through a carnally focused vision to some degree and while we may see somewhat beyond the doctrinal visions of separation and of the dilution of the intent of Jesus’ words, we may NOT be seeing as clearly as we may believe. The power of illusion and glamour, the vanity according to the Apostle Paul, IS strong in this world and it IS for this reason that so much of the teachings of the Master and His apostles IS directed as showing us the dichotomy of the things of the world as they ARE opposed to the things of God. And we must remember and understand that these things ARE inclusive of our thoughts and our attitudes; our entire view of Life, our focus and our intentions, must change to the reality that the Master presents us without deviation, and this IS a very difficult task when seen from the view of the man whose focus IS upon the things of the world. In this we should try to see the greater reality of grace and of the growth of the Kingdom of God Within a man; we should try to understand that the more that one can express the Truths that the Master teaches us, the more grace, the more revelation and realization, and the more of the Presence of God he will find in his Life.

This IS the reality that we should see in the Mater’s exchange below with the Apostle Judas and in the earlier questions from the Apostles Philip and Thomas; we should see here that even as disciples there IS further need for revelation and realizations of Truth. And this IS the same lesson that we are more graphically shown in the Life of the Apostle Peter who moves in His Life from a fisherman who himself admits his carnal ways as He tells Jesus “Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord” (Luke 5:8), to that state of perfection where he realizes the depth of those “greater works” which we can see in the Apostle Luke’s description from the Book of Acts saying: “they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them. There came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed every one” (Acts 5:15-16). This IS the reality of growth that we see in the gospels and we should understand that these ideas are left for us to discern the Truth; these include the disciples’ questions, the story painted for us in the Life of Peter, and the ideas of carnal focus that we see in the Master’s exchanges with James and John regarding their own desires to be above the others. And this IS the same reality of growth that we must ALL undergo as our grace, our measure of revelation and realization of Truth, increases with our expression of these Truths in our lives, an expression which IS the reality of keeping His words. And this IS the reality that we have in the Master’s words to His apostles that we repeat here again, His words that show the reciprocal effect of keeping His words as one’s expression in the world of men; we read:

“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. Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? 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 14:21-24).

This IS the reality of the Presence of God which IS the grace of God; this IS the reality of one’s realization of His Presence as it IS revealed by his own Soul, a realization in which the carnal man IS Transformed from sinner to saint, from Life as a man in the world living according to the ways of the world to a man who IS living according to the Ways of God. There IS NO thing instant in this conversion but rather a gradual shift that overcomes the man who chooses to change his focus to the things of God. We should understand here that the relative speed of this conversion depends only upon the speed with which the man continues in his change of focus and there ARE likely many who have made some effort but stopped at that point where a more radical change seems inconvenient to the carnal will. In this we should see Paul’s thoughts which he shows us at the end of his discourse on the Truth and the importance of Love, a Truth which IS the reality of perfection in the Life of the disciple of the Lord; we read: “when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known” (1 Corinthians 13:10-12). Paul tells us that it IS one’s expression of Love, one’s expression of the depth of the Great Commandments and the Golden Rule that we have again at the top of our essay, that brings us to this point of perfection and of the completeness of KNOWING as men in this world. Until this completion of our expression of the Truth that the Master teaches us, we can ONLY “know in part” and when we express this measure of KNOWING in carnal terms we ARE likely expressing our own view of the One Truth. The validity of this sense of expression largely rests upon one’s measure of focus and in this there IS much to be considered in this bearing of fruit, of paramount importance, we should consider our degree of the expression of the fullness of the Love that Jesus teaches and shows us and understand that if a doctrine, or the teaching of a man, DOES NOT see the depth of this Love and express it, that there IS much left to accomplish.

We should try to see this in John’s words above as he tells us to beware and to “believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world“. While doctrines and men may teach that this idea that we should “try the spirits” IS found in the simplicity of accepting what one who “confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God” from the perspective of admission and acknowledgement, the reality of this IS much deeper. It IS n the simplicity of confession that we have the many thousands of different variations of Truth, the thousands of differing and competing doctrines of men, which each purport to be the Truth of His words but which DO NOT express the Love found in those words. In this idea of “false prophets” we should see the reality of false teachers, teachers who offer their own view of the Truth of God in place of the actual Truths found in His words and, while doctrines have painted themselves in a favorable light by showing the false teacher and the other guy, the reality IS that ALL that DO NOT report the Truth ARE such. And this IS the reality of antichirst, this IS the teacher of doctrines that are contrary to the words and the intent of the Master and His apostles; here, if we could rightly understand the idea of “confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God“, we could break out of the mold that has been setting since the Master left our Presence in the Earth. Vincent shows us the strength of the Greek word that IS rendered as confess; Mr. Vincent says:

Confess me ( ὁμολογήσει ἐν ἐμοὶ ) A peculiar but very significant expression. Lit., “Confess in me.” The idea is that of confessing Christ out of a state of oneness with him. “Abide in me, and being in me, confess me.” It implies identification of the confessor with the confessed, and thus takes confession out of the category of mere formal or verbal acknowledgment. “Not every one that saith unto me, ‘ Lord! Lord!’ shall enter into the kingdom of heaven.” The true confessor of Christ is one whose faith rests in him. Observe that this gives great force to the corresponding clause, in which Christ places himself in a similar relation with those whom he confesses. “I will confess in him.” It shall be as if I spoke abiding in him. “I in them and thou in me, that they may be perfected into one, and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast loved me” (John 17:23) ⁴.

In previous essays we equate this idea of confession with John’s other sayings on believing in and believing on the Master which, for us, IS equivalent to keeping His words. We should be able to understand confession in much the same way both here and in its other uses; we should try to see the depth of the identification of the confessor with the confessed and the reality that to acknowledge Him as Lord predicates that one will keep His words. This IS for us simple logic; if we Truly confess His as Lord, if we Truly believe that He IS God, then, as spiritual men, we must per force DO as He instructs us to DO. When we can see that believing upon Him IS to accept and adopt His precepts and example as binding upon the life ⁴, then we can likely understand the reality of confession and understand that the doctrinal approach to these ideas IS contrary to His words of Truth. In John’s words above we should see how that the apostle builds up to this idea of antichrist by showing first the reality of keeping His words and of Love for ALL men. While he emphasizes the idea of giving to a brother in need, the greater reality IS found in his words that we “believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment“. When we can see this as that we should keep His words as the Son of God and “love one another” which IS also the essence of the Great Commandments above, we can then better understand the complexities of the apostle’s sayings in regard to self judgement which IS unfortunately rendered as condemnation. It IS in this judgement that men KNOW that they are keeping His words or that they ARE NOT and this idea holds True even for the man who may NOT KNOW the name of Jesus nor His precepts. Men KNOW that they are in conformance with the basic social Truths and sense of justice and fairness and this even when he will not admit this to himself. There IS much harm in the self deception that allows a man to DO what IS contrary to what he may KNOW IS right and this harm grows as a man grows in his awareness of such ideas as “love thy neighbour as thyself“; and then from here the deeper realities that this Love may impose upon one’s Life may take an even greater toll. John shows us here that while a man may deny his sin, his acting contrary to what he may KNOW IS right, there IS ever the reality that “God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things” and in this we should see the reality of the God Within which IS being shut out by the clamor of a man’s Life in this world.

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

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