“A New Commandment”...the Wayfarer 1/13/14

“A New Commandment”
 1/13/14

“A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another, as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love to one another.”

(John 13:34&35)

Today, we examine just a bit closer the subject of so many of my past sermons, and I Know to be the subject of many, many, more yet to come, as enough about this will never be said until such time as this commandment is truly written on the heart of each who professes to be a Christian, in this country and around the world wherever I may reach.

It is the single commandment left us by Jesus himself, and is central to the expected behavior of those who would claim to follow His teachings, as those teachings encompass that love from the beginning of His ministry through the end of that earthly ministry, and should also be the focus of any ministry in existence today.

We are told that to know love is to know God, and that to know God is to know love, the two are inseparable!

In order to love one another, we must first attempt to understand one another. Without that attempt at understanding, love is pushed to the back of our mind’s priorities, being replaced by other emotions that make that love impossible to attain.

Things like fear come into play. Having already done a recent sermon on that subject, I will state again that the true believer should have nothing to fear from any man, and that that fear only gets in the way of obeying Christ’s commandment to us.

This is not to say that all will respond in the same manner to that love, that all will be warm and fuzzy, and that there will never be a need to defend yourself from those who refuse that love, and are so inebriated on the teachings denying that love, that they intend to do you harm, and would destroy that love if possible.

It is to say that,  that love is the absolute first priority to come to the fore in the way you live your life from day to day, and that if it does, you will find that much of what is feared  will be found to disappear, leaving only more room for that love.

Greed is another emotion that would steal the ability to meet the requirement of this commandment.

Greed allows no place in heart or soul for love of any except self. It refuses to acknowledge that need exists in others as well as in self. It is an ever intensifying emotion that is accompanied by the fear I just mentioned, as well as hatred, and condescension, that refuses to accept the equality of those around us that have not been equally blessed in any and all matters of human existence, monetary, physical, mental, and spiritual.

Greed, and self-love, (when that self-love is allowed to overshadow all other love), extinguishes all ability to follow that commandment that we are told is to be the primary focus of our life.

After greed, and condescension, and the elitism of believing only in the service of self and your own goals become the focus of life, it is followed by hatred, the opposite of that love we are expected to give.

Hatred is far easier to accept as a part of the make-up of your soul than is love, because any difference between you and others creates emotions such as jealousy, which leads to hate, the fear already addressed, which also leads to hate, misunderstanding, which easily is replaced by that hate, and so many more negative emotions that exist that enumerating them is impossible.

Is that love that is expected of us then impossible?

No, but it requires work, and constant attention. It requires caution, not of others, but of your own thought processes, and comprehension of situations you encounter, and the responses of others to your communications.

Love does require rebuke, and chastisement when needed. If a child is not told to avoid  poison,  that poison will appear something beautiful, or delectable that must be tried, and can take the life of that child.

Dangers should and must be exposed when they occur, if that love is to be given. 


Again as an example, a child must be warned of the danger of the pretty plants that can harm it, the lovely looking animals that would devour it, and anything that may harm it, else it fall into the clutches of experiencing only the pain and possibility of death that exists when no warning is given.

Whether it be a substance that, when abused, becomes addictive, leading to death, or complete loss of self, and any ability to be a productive part of our society, or whether it be an equally poisonous, and deceiving idea propagated by others, that is contrary to the teachings of Christ, that steals the ability to exhibit the love he spoke of, it is the duty of those claiming to be Christian to speak up and give that loving rebuke and chastisement.

Judgment will also steal the ability to have that love required of us.

It is far too easy to attempt to judge others based on your own perception of them, instead of the perception of God!

Once again yesterday, I attempted to make clear the difference between knowing others  that are Christian by their fruit, as opposed to being the fruit inspector looking for any blemish and then judging the whole tree by the one blemish found on a single piece of fruit from that tree.

Inspection of the tree must be done by the true inspector, that sees all fruit that has ever been produced by that tree, not just the one piece seen, and then perhaps not clearly, by those whose sole intent is to search for and find only the blemishes on that single piece of fruit.

God alone is fit to judge. God alone is fit to inspect. God alone is able to look into the heart and soul of a man and determine the fitness of that man to be a part of the kingdom.

God does not do this with the eyes of man which may see a dirty, disheveled, bum on the street, but sees instead the work in progress that requires that love be given to become something entirely different than that which is seen, perhaps even a great leader and soldier to be enlisted in His cause that can be all the more effective for the experience of having been in such a lowly state at that point in his life.

Love, as is required by the given commandment, is an ongoing effort to improve the lot of others, not your own circumstance and wealth.

It is an ongoing requirement for every bit of patience that may be mustered to assist in seeing the viewpoints of others, and giving proper guidance, when needed, to find their own way to that love given, not by man but by God.

It is a requirement that goes beyond the comfort zone of those you have known all your life, and are comfortable with, simply because you know them, to those you do not know as well, because the effort has not been made to know them.

It requires looking beyond the physical appearances, and perceptions, and attempting to see what is in the heart of others to the best of your ability, and showing them that love can change what is in that heart, whether it is fear, hurt, pride, or any other emotion that blots out the love that is meant to exist there.

Again, I am not preaching tolerance of evil, or that that evil does not exist.

I am preaching that that evil does exist, not only in those you see around you, but in all men, including you, and may only be overcome with that love required of us by Jesus in that single commandment.

In order to show that love and to share it, you must first find and have it!

 

This is only possible when you come to the realization that you are not alone in your efforts to find that love, and must also seek it within your own heart daily by remembering  the words of Christ throughout His ministry that tell us we must constantly:

“Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!”

I close here, once again offering that love to all willing to accept it, myself still that same simple sinner I was born,  now a simple sinner saved by grace through faith in the One demanding that love from me, not only for Him, but for all my brethren who find that grace and also accept it. 

 I remain also the soldier I was born to be, constantly at war with any who would deny, or attempt to steal that love that was given so long ago on a cross, for all mankind, not just those well dressed and wealthy elite, who gather to profess that love, and never truly have any real comprehension of what that love is, and never will truly have it within their heart because they fail to understand what the requirement for that love means.

2 Timothy 1:12 King James Version (KJV)

¹² For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

Amen and Amen.
the Wayfarer