ON LOVE; PART DCCIII
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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 with our thoughts on the concept of grace and specifically how that there IS NO grace in the things of the world. In the reality of the Master’s words the things of the world are in opposition to things spiritual and grace IS a spiritual reward as this IS framed in the New Testament. Jesus teaches us by parable that we must choose our treasure and that we must choose God over the things of the flesh but these ideas ARE NOT seen as they are presented; it IS in this vein we noted that even when the Master’s ideas ARE seen in the most restrictive ways, as riches and possessions, there IS little willingness in the church to take these ideas to heart in practice or in teaching. Perhaps a clue to this Christian mentality can be found in this except from Bishop Lightfoot as we find this in Vincent’s thoughts on the Master’s allied idea of “take no thought“: Bishop Lightfoot (“On a Fresh Revision of the New Testament”) says: “I have heard of a political economist alleging this passage as an objection to the moral teaching of the sermon on the mount, on the ground that it encouraged, nay, commanded, a reckless neglect of the future”4. Without the idea of recklessness, this IS exactly what the Master IS teaching; and it IS not for the future ONLY that this IS intended, it IS for the day and in these ideas IS the reality of faith and the Truth of focus. As we discussed in our lengthy look at the Sermon on the Mount recently, Jesus ideas of “take no thought“, the “treasure of the heart“, “God and mammon” and the Truth of the Light and the darkness of one’s view, ARE ALL related and ARE ALL intended to show that there IS naught of the world that IS spiritual and therefore, naught that IS grace. We repeat these words from the Master for clarity:
“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought , saying , What shall we eat ? or, What shall we drink ? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek: ) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof” (Matthew 6:19-34).
In this rather lengthy selection from the Sermon on the Mount there IS a common idea throughout which IS missed in the Christian habit of seeing Jesus words verse by verse. The whole of this selection IS found in the reality of the most important point that IS comes near the end and that IS the spiritual reality of seeking, the reality that ALL is resolved in seeking and finding the Kingdom of God and the righteousness, the conformity to the precepts of True spiritual Life. This idea IS NOT seen in the way that it IS intended and the Truth of this idea IS seen in a few verses earlier as Jesus tells us that those whose focus IS upon the things of the world, those whose thoughts ARE on the eating and the wearing, are those of “little faith“. And this IS the essential question that each man must ask himself; DO I Truly “seek ye the kingdom of God“? (Luke 12:31) as Luke frames this and DO I Truly “seek ye first the kingdom of God“? where the idea of first IS the same as we see the Apostle James words on what IS Wisdom from above….that this IS “first pure” (James 3:17). Here Vincent tell us that this Greek word proton IS: Emphasizing its inner quality, pure, as distinguished from its outward expressions. The idea is not first numerically, but first essentially 4. Can we see the reality here as this relates to ALL of the ideas above; that the Kingdom of God should be first and foremost in the thoughts of men; and can we see that with this as one’s thoughts and attitude the idea of “treasures in heaven” versus “treasures upon earth” becomes moot as does that choice between “God and mammon“.
It IS in the lives of those who Truly seek the Kingdom that these realities ARE the way of Life and it IS unfortunate that these ideas have been so diluted and changed by the doctrines of men who profess to speak in Jesus name. And, while this may seem a harsh statement, it IS nonetheless a True one; millions of men DO NOT see the reality of this separation, this division between God and mammon as being the division between seeking the Kingdom of God versus seeking the pleasures and the comforts of the world. But the clarity IS resounding in the minds of those who can see past the doctrines and understand the very nature of the Master’s words on the Kingdom of God….that this IS within and that its Presence, along with the Presence of God and Christ, ARE here and now. And this IS the reality of grace. Grace IS the revelation of these Truths to the consciousness of the man in the world; it IS his realization in thought and attitude of his True nature and his True goal. Here in this lengthy excerpt from the Sermon we should see that to “take no thought” is to NOT focus upon the “treasures upon earth“, it IS to understand the nature of mammon and the choice of it over God and it IS to KNOW the greater reality that if “ light that is in thee be darkness” that the perception of light in the ways of men IS of the world and NOT of God. As we discussed in the last essay, the apostles DO clarify and amplify these rather parabolic ideas in their sayings that we listed but perhaps these too are overly parabolic as their reality IS NOT seen as well. In the end however it IS the man who Truly seeks the Kingdom, the man who seeks it as his primary focus, who can see the fullness of grace developing in his Life; it IS this man who can see the reality of the Apostle Peter’s words saying “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:4). In these promises IS our grace.
Our greater point here IS that grace IS NOT found in the things of the Earth, grace IS a spiritual effect of right focus upon the things of God and that it IS in this right focus that the Truth of the Kingdom grows in the Life of the man in this world. Moreover, it IS in this growth, this Transforming growth, that the aspirant become the disciple and the disciple comes to completeness and it IS in this High Calling of True discipleship that we can see and understand the fullness of grace that the Master speaks of in His words to us regarding the “greater works” that the True disciple can DO. We MUST realize that these ARE NOT for the casual believer nor ARE these “greater works” for the man who strives toward the Kingdom as we DO….these “greater works” are for the man who Truly believes on Him. This IS the man whose Life is structured around thoughts and attitudes and actions that ARE totally within the constraints that we put upon ourselves to keep His words. And we should understand here that this idea of keeping His Words includes the sense of focus that we discuss above, the sense of “seek ye first the kingdom of God“, and the sense of “take no thought” which includes the reality of seeking “treasures in heaven” and NOT “treasures upon earth“….and we must NOT forget the reality of the final Life’ thought of God over mammon which represents ALL that IS of the world. Repeating our selection from John’s Gospel again, we read:
“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; because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it. If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you” (John 14:12-20).
It IS in the reality of grace that we can come to the realization of the Master’s words here; that “the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do” We should note that this IS the reality achieved in the Life of Peter who IS our example of the Way of discipleship throughout the Gospels and into the Book of Acts. We should note that this same IS achieved in the Life of the Apostle Paul as well and, while their individual perspectives ARE different, we should understand that what IS seen and recorded for us IS their expression in form, their ability to live the divine Life through their bodies and personalities which ever color one’s expression. And in this IS the reality of the Master’s words on fruit, that “Ye shall know them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:16), that we can KNOW the Truly spiritual man as well as the carnally focused man and here again we should see the ideas of what IS the “treasure of the heart“. While such sense of treasure IS a purely personal thing, it can ever be seen as it IS reflected in the fruit of one’s Life, the fruit that IS expressed in a man’s thoughts, attitudes and actions. And such fruit IS common among the True disciples of the Lord as this fruit IS in a sense yet another criteria for discipleship as the Master tells us that “Herein is my Father glorified , that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples” (John 15:8).
The KEY for Peter and for Paul IS the same as IS the KEY for every man who Truly seeks His Presence: that we keep His words which IS the reality of His expression above saying “He that believeth on me“. While this is likely intentionally parabolic, this should be seen in the same light as we see the similar saying regarding discipleship as we have above: “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed” (John 8:31). Can we see the relationships here? that in this idea of believing on the Master as the criteria for the works of discipleship that one MUST keep His words and express this keeping as the fruit of one’s Life? This IS the reality of discipleship and we should try to see here that we can experience this by degree as evermore grace comes into the Life of the man who strives to keep His words and who strives to express that keeping as the fruit of His Life. And we should understand here as well that it IS to the disciple that Jesus speaks as He tells them and us to ask, to ask for more grace which IS the ONLY thing that we should KNOW to ask for; and this IS the lesson that we have in the Master’s words on treasure and mammon and thoughts above. Two times in the words of the Sermon the Master tells us that we need not ask for the things of our sustenance, the things of the world; He tells us such things in saying that “your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things” as He speaks to us on “take no thought” and He tells us the same in regard to prayer; that we should not be like those who pray for this and that; He tells us to “Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him” (Matthew 6:8).
Can we see the point here? Can we understand that the asking that IS reflected in our selection from John’s Gospel IS NOT for any thing that IS of the world…that this asking IS for grace; it IS for the realizations and the revelations of the things of God and the ability to use these as our expression in the world of men? And we must understand here how that we should ask, how that this idea of “in my name” IS NOT the common understanding of saying ‘in the Name of Jesus’ as we ask for the carnal things of Life. The True sense of this asking IS first spiritual and second in relation to what the Master represents; this phrasing IS NOT to merely say a thing but rather it IS to show forth the hidden meanings that the Master IS bringing out in His words at this time. What IS His Name in relation to His previous saying that “I am in the Father, and the Father in me“? What IS His Name in relation to His saying that “words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works” (John 14:10)? Can we see here the intentional complexity and the intentional parabolic value in the totality of His thought? Can we see His intent to show us the True relationship between the Father and the Son, between God and the Christ…..that these ARE the same? So then what IS His Name? what IS asking “in my name“? Is this NOT asking God in the Name of God for the things of God?
This IS the underlying reality that we must try to see as we gather momentum to discuss the reality of the Holy Spirit as the Master teaches us of this Third Aspect of the Godhead in terms that can only be understood in the context of ALL His words. And this IS much the same as the reality of the individual thoughts at we discuss above; these ideas of “take no thought“, the “treasure of the heart“, “God and mammon” and the Truth of the Light and the darkness of one’s view can only be Truly seen in the totality of their context.
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.
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
