Gospel of John [20:19]. Christ's Resurrection, part 30 (fellowship with Christ and the Father - Agape).

Title: Gospel of John [20:19]. Christ's Resurrection, part 30 (fellowship with Christ and the Father - Agape).

 

Being occupied with the Giver of all good things does not negate a tremendous love and thanksgiving for His gifts, but rather puts that love and thanksgiving in their proper place. It brings our desire into the realm of love and grace and away from the love of acquisition.

 

When God can transform you to the point where you have capacity to enjoy all His gifts then He is magnified and glorified to the maximum.

 

PSA 37:1 Do not fret because of evildoers,

Be not envious toward wrongdoers.

 

PSA 37:2 For they will wither quickly like the grass,

And fade like the green herb.

 

PSA 37:3 Trust in the Lord, and do good;

Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness [feed on the truth that the faithful Shepherd always provides].

 

After revealing the stupidity of using one half of the wood for a fire to cook upon and the other half to make a wooden idol to bow before, then God says through the prophet Isaiah:

 

ISA 44:20

He feeds on ashes; a deceived heart has turned him aside. And he cannot deliver himself, nor say, "Is there not a lie in my right hand?"

 

PSA 37:4 Delight yourself in the Lord;

And He will give you the desires of your heart [which desires fellowship with God's].

 

PSA 37:5 Commit your way to the Lord [literally - roll your way upon Jehovah],

Trust also in Him, and He will do it.

 

The image is a rolling off from his shoulders a burden which he is not able to bear and onto Jehovah's, who is able to bear it. This same image is used in the NT.

 

1PE 5:6-7

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you.

 

PSA 37:6 And He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,

And your judgment as the noonday. 

 

Part of the inheritance is the sufferings of Christ to which the evildoer is not acquainted. They seem to prosper while the saint suffers but God will bring the righteous life of the saint to light. He may do this in time, but the saint of this type doesn't depend on such vindication, knowing that at the Bema Seat of Christ it will be illumed. This is another important aspect of the Bema and the eternity of the divine good that God does through us.

 

Remind yourself of all the gifts of God unto you that you presently know. Depending on how the list is made and divided it can be longer or shorter. Our position, our inheritance, our destiny, our earthly blessings, and even our tribulations all come into the picture. As we love God because He loved us, we love the blessings as well, for the Giver must give and that makes the gifts an extension of the person of the Giver, who is agape love, and blessed you with all these things by means of that love without merit or worth from us.  

 

So then, our minds are set on the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit and our minds are set on the commands as a manifestation of what the Trinity is capable of through our volition.

 

The most dedicated Jew found that the giving of the Law only increased his sin, but the Christian who is dedicated to the plan of God finds that through the Spirit and the truth he is capable of divine virtues and divine fruit that he never thought possible; that which eye has not seen, ear has not heard, and has not entered into the mind of man. His neglect of the plan of God will result in increased sin, but much more tragic is the loss of virtue and power to conduct himself in the image of Christ. There is no curse upon him but a loss of priceless times and moments are experienced by him.

 

For example, if my mind is set upon the agape love of my neighbor through the power of the indwelling and filling Spirit, I would avoid a wealth of sins against others, which are a great many of the sins that are revealed to us. But also, I would gain God's virtue fruit production between me and my neighbor, whether great or small (as if such measurements need be determined). And if my mind is set upon what agape really is I avoid the wealth of sins that are of the rulership of the flesh and the world and I gain the fruit that is of God's production. Agape is the love of Christ, the love of Calvary and so it is unconditional, self-sacrificial, passionate for the well-being of others, and it was shed abroad in my heart at salvation by means of the Holy Spirit. And, my love for God as a reflection of His love given to me manifests itself in faith towards Him and His plan as well as hope in Him and His plan. If I set my mind on these, by dependence upon the Spirit, I would avoid of wealth of sins in the area of OSN rule and compromise to worldly things and I would gain the fruit that comes from being God's vessel of honor, useful to the Master. So then, the Spirit and the truth become our restraints and not fear of a curse.  

 

This is occupation with Christ, with His good, His mind, His excellence and that is what overcomes evil.

 

ROM 12:9 Let love [agape] be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good.

 

ROM 12:10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor;

 

ROM 12:11 not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord;

 

ROM 12:12 rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer,

 

ROM 12:13 contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.

 

ROM 12:14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and curse not.

 

ROM 12:15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.

 

ROM 12:16 Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation.

 

ROM 12:17 Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men.

 

ROM 12:18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.

 

ROM 12:19 Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay," says the Lord.

 

ROM 12:20 "But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals upon his head [pierce his conscience - not curses from God]."

 

ROM 12:21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

 

In this, the commands of the NT only reveal to the believer what God is capable of within him. Therefore the NT ethics or commands transcend the blessing and curse rules of the Law that were uttered from Mt. Gerizim and Ebal.

 

In obedience to Moses' command, the great ceremony of rehearsing the law took place here after the Hebrews entered Canaan. The ark and the Levites stood in the valley between the two mountains. The people arranged themselves on the slopes of the mountains and responded in alternating parts to what was read — those on Mt. Ebal responding to the cursings and those on Mt. Gerizim to the blessings

 

Christ sat with a Samaritan woman between these two mountains and said a time was coming when men would worship God, not in the temple, not in Jerusalem, not on the mountain, but in Spirit and in truth, which would be a living water, and that water would mean that such a one would never thirst again - in Spirit and in truth!

 

Not commands alone, but Spirit and commands

 

JOH 4:23-24

"But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

 

The commands of the NT are the Way in which God has given us in order to exercise His power of Spirit and truth. This Way comprises the arena in which we exercise His indwelling power.

 

Therefore, we are under another law, the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.

 

The law of love is not a set of written commandments but an ethical and spiritual dynamic, produced in the heart of the yielded believer by the Holy Spirit. With this power he then keeps the ethics of the Christian way of life.

 

The Holy Spirit gives him both the desire and the power to live a life in which the dominating principle is love, God's love, which exercises a stronger and stricter control over the heart and is far more efficient at putting out sin in the life than the legalizers think the thunders of Sinai ever were. Not long after the thunders of Sinai, which struck fear in the hearts of the Jews, were they constructing a golden calf in order to worship it.

 

As the Lord said, "If you love Me, then you will keep My commandments." This means that God’s love is not of commands but a dynamic, spiritual relationship with Him. In this relationship the believer will desire to keep the commands and possess the power to do so by means of his complete reliance on God the Holy Spirit.

 

GAL 5:14 For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, " You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

 

What is surprising is that Paul leaves out the first command of the Law, what the Lord called the greatest commandment.

 

MAT 22:36-40

"Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?" And He said to him,  "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.'  "This is the great and foremost commandment. "The second is like it, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'  "On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets."