ON LOVE; PART MXLI
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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. While this IS from an older definition of Charity, which IS rendered in the King James Bible from the same Greek word agape which IS generally rendered as Love, we should amend our own definition here to include the idea that in the reality of Love a man will accord to ALL men ALL things that he would accord to himself and to say that Love IS our thoughts and attitude of the equality of ALL men regardless of their outward nature or appearance…that ALL ARE equally children of Our One God
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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).
We ended the last essay with some thoughts on the reality of fruit as the expression of the Life of a man in this world and how that while the Master’s idea of fruit IS generally that it should be “good fruit“, spiritual fruit if you will, that there IS as well “evil fruit” that can be the expression of a man. In the right understanding of evil, there IS much to be seen in regard to the ways of most ALL men in this world. It IS when evil IS seen as those things that ARE contrary to the things of God, when the Life of a man IS centered in the self and the things of the self, that True realization can begin to flow.
So long as men believe that sin and evil ARE ONLY the gross offenses that men may DO and that these ideas DO NOT stretch into the thoughts and the attitudes of everyman whose focus IS NOT upon God, their misconceptions will be their prisons. It is this “bondage of corruption” (Romans 8:21) that must be broken for a man to Truly “Walk in the Spirit” and to “be led of the Spirit” as the Apostle Paul shows us in our selection below. It IS this Truth that doctrines DO NOT teach as they center upon the more convenient approach which the Apostle James speaks against saying “be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22).
It IS unfortunate that through this self-deception men CAN NOT see the Truth that is most clearly painted for them by the words of the Master and His apostles. Throughout our study of “the fruit of the Spirit” we have cited Jesus’ own words on fruit and how that it IS “by their fruits ye shall know them” and, because this IS a spiritual study, we have stayed mostly on the idea of the “good fruit“; that fruit that comes by measure to the man who strives. But, as we say above, the Master DOES show us the idea of “evil fruit” and he shows us this in regard to the very Life of a man; we read:
“Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets. 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. Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. 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 7:12-21).
This selection of words from the Sermon on the Mount ends with the central point that we feature in our trifecta and begins with the ever important idea of striving as Jesus admonishes us to “Enter ye in at the strait gate“; it IS this that the Apostle Luke shows us as “Strive to enter in at the strait gate” (Luke 13:24). Between these points there IS His teaching on fruit and, again, while this IS framed in a negative way, the reality of “good fruit” should ever be seen in the idea that “Ye shall know them by their fruits“….as evidence of the man who Truly DOES “Walk in the Spirit” and this IS the point of our study of Paul’s words saying:
“For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another. This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts” (Galatians 5:17-24).
Here we should see the idea that the man who DOES “Walk in the Spirit“, the man who IS “led of the Spirit“, IS the man who DOES express the “the fruit of the Spirit” and the man who IS NOT, the “natural man” (1 Corinthians 2:14) if you will, IS the man whose expression IS found in “the works of the flesh“. In these opposing expressions we have the Master’s opposing ideas of “good fruit” and “evil fruit“. And here we must try to see the reality of the New Testament idea of corruption and understand how that this IS the reality of the illusion and the glamour, the vanity that Paul speaks of, that IS Life in form in this Earth.
The Master’s words on corruption are few by they ARE pointed. In His words above we find the idea of the “corrupt tree” and here we should see that the reference IS that such will bring forth “evil fruit“; we should see as well that this “corrupt tree” IS the polar opposite of the “good tree“. Knowing that Jesus IS speaking of men and not actual trees we should link this idea of good to His other words which we discussed in a recent post; His words that show us that “there is none good but one, that is, God” (Matthew 19:17).
Through this high vision of being good we should be able to understand that to be so IS to be God-like in thought, attitude and action and that the opposite of this IS everyman who IS NOT. This view sheds a very different Light on Jesus’ idea of the “corrupt tree” and the “evil fruit” which ARE the thoughts, the attitudes and the actions of men whose focus IS NOT on the things of God. And it IS this high vision of being good that IS the privilege of the disciple who DOES keep His words….it IS this man who IS God-like and it IS this man who then has the Truth, the Presence of God and His Kingdom according to our trifecta which we repeat here again.
- If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free“ (John 8:31-32).
- “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).
- “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).
It IS in following the Master and keeping His words that one can be good and it IS this man who has ALL of the privileges of the True disciple as we read above. This IS however the rare person and we should repeat here again that this sense of being God-like has naught to do with being a Christian or even KNOWING of Jesus; this sense of being God-like IS the expression by any man of the Good, the Beautiful and the True….the things of God. It IS of course by measure that men can achieve this high vision and we should remember how that it IS in striving toward that vision that one gains some measure of the disciple’s privilege.
It IS unfortunate that so much of doctrine denies these Truths and there ARE some that actively work against this view of Life, this view of striving toward the Kingdom of God. There ARE several Greek words that ARE rendered in terms of corruption by the King James translators. The word that we ARE reviewing here IS the Greek word sapros which can mean several related things, from rotten to worthless according to the lexicon 2, and ALL DO stand out against the opposing idea of good. If we can take this idea of corruption from a spiritual perspective we can perhaps see the idea that the carnal Life IS rotten and worthless to the indwelling spirit unless it IS expressing spiritual Truths. This IS the gist that IS the Master’s intent. In this too however we should try to see the idea of measure.
Of course it IS ONLY when we can see the True reality of the Master’s teachings that we can understand the reality of Life but this view requires that one will seek such Truth; and the reality of this seeking IS found in the ability of a man to look within at the unction. The Apostle John tells us of this anointing saying “ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things” and if we could but see that this unction IS the very Truth of man we will have found the source of ALL Truth and be able to glimpse the way that this IS revealed to the man who will strive.
It IS revelation, and subsequent realization, that IS the flow of the Presence of God; it IS the unrealized state of this KNOWING which IS a part of the great mystery. The Soul, which IS this same principal and which IS called by so many names, that IS ever prompting the carnal mind and emotions which ARE the personality. Over the clamor of daily living this prompting IS NOT heard nor felt in the heart save for those occasions of conscience and in the way that some turn to God in times of trouble and peril. These ARE less than revelation and seldom lead to True realization which IS that KNOWING of which Jesus speaks in the first part of our trifecta above.
True revelation comes in one’s True focus upon the things of God, upon His words and the upon way of living that He prescribes for ALL who Truly seek to follow Him. It IS in this flow of Love and Power that comes according to one’s focus that we find the realization in the mind of the revealed Truths, albeit according to the actual conductive state of one’s mental and emotional equipment and the physical form which displays these to the world. John’s message on the unction which IS later rendered as anointing IS that this IS the source of ALL KNOWING; not the source of ALL knowledge from a worldly perspective, but that superior KNOWING that is strictly spiritual.
To turn this KNOWING into knowledge IS the purpose of the mental and emotional equipment and we should try to see how that it IS the limitations of the equipment or its superior abilities that ARE the differences between men in this world. In this we should try to see how that NOT ALL spiritual endeavor need be spiritual as we understand that idea. It IS realizations of revealed KNOWING that IS the factor that makes world change possible and there ARE men with some sense of revelation based in their own past who DO bring among us in advances in science, politics, arts, religion and whatnot.
While these men DO NOT necessarily follow the Lord and His words, they ARE at the same time conduits of some segment of the Truth which flows to them as revelations for which they have the necessary mental and emotional equipment to process them. They ARE however limited in the scope of their KNOWING as the fullness of this requires keeping His words and His Way as we see in our trifecta above. So there IS the strictly spiritual way of the True disciple and there IS the way of those who can advance and progress the very state of Life in this world. In both however there IS ever the need to separate the revelation from ALL else and to focus upon it; in the spiritual way the focus IS upon the Godhead and in the more worldly way the focus IS upon the task at hand. And we must ever remember that these ways of living intersect and combine into the panoply of Life that we see.
ALL of this can be seen in terms of fruit and while ALL has its source in Spirit, that which IS called by the apostle as “the fruit of the Spirit” still requires that a man live according to the reality of the terms in his list. Similarly we should see the Master’s ideas of fruit and in this we should try to understand the still carnal nature of those who DO their part according to the evolving lives of men but NOT according to His words. Can we see how that this remains as “evil fruit” from the perspective that it IS of this world. That the contribution IS fruit IS undeniable and that it IS from the Spirit IS apparent but the special reality of “the fruit of the Spirit” IS ONLY for the man who will strive to keep His words; this IS the man who DOES “Walk in the Spirit“…..the man who IS “led of the Spirit“.
And this “fruit of the Spirit” IS NOT something that the man who keeps His words needs to develop in Life. The ideas that Paul lists here ARE the natural Way of the man who will DO so and, by measure, the Way of the man who strives. We DID NOT get back to our review and expansion of the ideas behind the Greek words in Paul’s list and we will endeavor to continue this in the next post.
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 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 a Quote of the Day that we spent much time with over the course of our essays. In this affirmation we find the Truth of discipleship as we have been ever been expressing and here we can relate our themes of the last few days; “take no thought” for the things of the world and that we approach the Kingdom and discipleship in the nature of the little child, in humbleness, meekness, unashamed in any way and unassuming. The message that this imparts for us today IS that it IS the Soul that is at work in the world of men as it expresses to some degree the purpose, power and the will through Life in this world. These words are from a meditation offered to his students by our Tibetan brother and in which we find greater understanding of the message of the Master. This IS Truly the way of the disciple.
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.
Let the peace of God rule in your hearts
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
- 2 from New Testament Greek Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
