Summary of the Subjectivity of Christ
Character + terms of thought = living expression
.... In the middle of this equation, Jesus’ terms of thought are represented. These terms include a combination of His Eternal Perspective and His Divine Motivation, which we also discussed. So to combine those two terms and summarize: The selfless love of Christ, viewed eternally, is the Divine motivation in a proper perspective. Jesus always acted so that others might stand, to the glory of God, when they appear before Him to be judged on that Day. There were His basic terms of thought in every instance.
.... This brings us back to our third riddle, which remains unanswered from earlier in this module. When Jesus was mocked, smitten, and falsely accused, He remained silent . . . until saying at last:.... "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do."
(Luke 23:34)
.... By the same selfless love, as a reflection of the mind of Christ, His true followers overcome evil with good, always acting so that others might stand before God in the Day of Judgment (Philippians 2:5x1-9). And just as Jesus gave Himself for sinners, we are commanded to bless those who curse us, do good to those who hate us, and pray for those who spitefully use us and persecute us (Matthew 5:29-31). It is not from self interest that we turn the cheek or go the extra mile – but for the sake of the other, that they may come to see their evil deeds in a new light and repent, and yet learn to stand because of it: .... "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven."
(Matthew 5:16)
.... But if anyone refuses to hear, they are without excuse, having experienced Christ’s kindness by the same example. In either case, by way of our example, their judgment will reflect on the generous, forgiving character of God more directly, which allows them to be judged in relation to Him. God will be glorified if they repent; but if not, His justice will be shown, by the same equation, in destroying them:.... "If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink; for so you will heap coals of fire on his head, and the LORD will reward you."
(Proverbs 25:21-22)
.... "For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming?"
(1 Thessalonians 2:19; c.f. 1 Corinthians 10:24)
.... The whole basis of our fellowship will be transformed as we adopt an eternal motivation, that our brothers may stand together with us on that Day in the Lord's presence: "For now we live, if you stand fast in the Lord." (1 Thessalonians 3:8)..
.... "Therefore, my beloved and longed-for brethren, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, beloved."
.... There is a good deal more information to share on this posting, including some special examples that have been included in the 'comments' section. So please take a little time to view the comments as well, and possibly to add some of your own.
Congratulations! You have now completed the Foundational Lessons. To Proceed to the Modules on the Elementary Principles of Christ, please click here.
Daily Bible Reading:Now that you’ve finished reading the four gospels, Jesus would have shown you how His sufferings and glory fulfilled the Old Testament’s prophecy (Luke 24:27, 44-45). To offer something as similar as possible, a special break-out module has been prepared: The Sufferings and the Glory. For today, please read the Chapter 5 Introduction, Chapter 5 itself, and then the epilogue to complete this break-out module.
posted by loren at 12:37 AM
5 Comments:
Perhaps the last part of that lessons needs more emphasis. Let’s say you had a Christian friend who truly loved you, and so they were always very thoughtful toward you. They always stopped to think about your eternity, and how you would stand on the day of judgment. Because of this, they always chose a course of action that would make you look good on that day.
Even one such person in your life would make a tremendous difference for you! So think of how it would be if every Christian conducted themselves in this way toward you, and toward all of their other brothers and sisters in the Lord, and if you did the same for them.
You would now be acting toward them as Jesus Himself would act. Not only would you help each other bear fruit and prevail in the judgment, but the very fact that you were trying to do so would develop the sacrificial love for Christ in your heart.
The only rule would be that you could never sin in order to make someone else look good: "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”
(Mark 8:36-37)
This is the love of Christ in a proper (eternal) perspective. If you can keep this attitude in your heart, toward God and man, you will never be far from His heart and mind.
By
loren, at 9/08/2005 12:45 AM
Loren~
Thanks for your encouragement, and for the information about the spam. Were you talking about the "word verification" (is that by Google?) feature or is there something less obtrusive to block the spam?
May God's best be to you.
Looks like a great blog. I enjoyed reading this thought-provoking post.
By
J. Wendell, at 9/08/2005 12:59 AM
Think back to the sufferings of Christ, as He suffered in silence before His accusers. Though they accused Him with many falsehoods, He still remained silent.
In the end they condemned Jesus for blasphemy. Picture being Jesus, and the verdict on your life is 'Blasphemy!' What could be more personally antagonistic? They were really getting dirty about it all.
Jesus was then taken before Pilate, and now they began to accused Him vehemently. It became a spew of ugliness, hatred, and lies. But even so He said nothing -- not even to defend Himself -- so that Pilate marvels at His silence.
Jesus was beaten, scourged, publicly denied and mocked. And then on the cross, finally, Jesus found something else to say: 'Father forgive them, they know not what they do.' Through this, Jesus prays that even His accuser might stand. But let's go back to the beginning to offer a context, to show how this would come to pass in a practical sense.
When Jesus was first interrogated, and He was struck for the first time, He said to Annas "If I have done evil, bear witness of the evil; but if not, why do you strike Me?"
This was the question they could never answer, and which His silence would never allow them to change. Had Jesus answered further questions, this particular statement - which contained the entire point -- would simply have become lost in the shuffle.
Now picture being one of the priests, in the aftermath. Things have calmed down, and you realized how ugly they had become. You knew you behaved like a brute, and defaimed and killed an innocent man. What would most people do? They would replay the arguments in their head and think of better answers in hindsight, in order to justify themselves.
But when the priests tried to do this, what did they find? Jesus had left them no where to go. The only argument He'd given them to deal with was: "If I have done evil bear witness of that; but if not, why are you doing this?" Oh yes, and there was one more thing: "Father, forgive them, they know not what they do."
In hindsight, as they had to come to grips with this status quo, it turned out that many of them were ashamed of themselves and repented, for Acts 6:7 telss us that "many of the priests became obedient to the faith."
So Jesus suffered in silence that He might lead many to God.
By
loren, at 9/08/2005 1:05 AM
Earlier this week, I had a special opportunity to apply the mind of Christ, as expressed in the entry above.
I had been surfing blogs, and had just passed one by, when I felt the Lord telling me to back up and look again. I did so, and saw an older article in which the blogger described himself as a miltant athiest. Having once been one of those myself, I knew that this person was probably 'militant' because he was very insecure in his conclusion, and he argues in order to convince others so they will validate his decision by agreeing with him.
I very gently challenged him to take another look, and gave him a link to the Sufferings and the Glory module. I ended by passing along a message from the Lord: that He is not mad at him, but would like to talk to him.
Later I checked back and saw a spew of ugliness and hatred in response, as God was blamed for everything from the halocaust to child rape to AIDS, and every other form of suffering in the world. The person concluded by saying that yes, he did want to talk to God, so he stick the finger in His face.
I answered very politely that he obviously was not objective, as he had claimed, because if he was he'd see that all the faults he'd just described were things men had done to other men - not that God had done to anyone. In fact, none of those things would have happened at all if man had listened to God in the first place. I also suggested that, this being so, the 'finger' might be better placed in mankind's collective mirror, because this was a world of our own making.
I also asked if it was right for him to speak in so vile a way about Jesus, who had never done him harm, who had only reached out to him with love. Then I said again that God was not angry at him, but wanted to talk to him; he'd said he wanted to talk to God, so do it: this is where he must go to continue the conversation.
Now I started getting bombarded with e-mails and my blog started getting the same torrent of ugliness in comments. A quick glance gave the gist of it, that now he wanted a protracted debate. I simply deleted his messages, otherwise unread.
I returned to his blog one more time and told him that I had passed along the message I was bidden, and he must now discuss it further with God Himself. And after this, I said nothing more to him.
For the next two days the angry torrent of e-mails and blog comments continued. But I remembered the example of Jesus, mentioned above, and remained silent to them. By second comment, about the faults being the fault of man, had answered any argument he could possibly give. My comment about his attitude of hate in the face of acceptance and love was only being vindicated each time he wrote again. And the invitation I had passed along, that God was not angry with him but wanted to speak to him, remained the whole time.
For me to continue the debate would only have served to change the subject from this core truth which, in his heart, he could not deny, and to substitute my own conversation for the conversation God wanted to have with him.
Having a similar background, I knew that no words of man could convince such a hateful attitude. That sort of influence must arise from within, and only God is capable of speaking to him in such a way.
In my own case, it began in a very similar way (though I didn't speak to him for that reason, I simply said what I was told to say,) and for me it was the beginning of a long process. But I expect that a similar process has now begun for him, even if he won't see if for a long time to come, as he looks back in hindsight.
He did look at the Sufferings and the Glory, btw, because that's where he got my e-mail address.
I had once been in shoes very similar to his. And now that I found myself on the other side of that exchange, it showed me something very deep about the character of Christ in His silence. It was no fun, it was totally degrading, listening to that torrent of evil spoken against God whom I love, knowing how to answer it, but knowing that I had to remain silent instead -- all for his sake, for a result yet to be, and in the meantime to feel defamed and insulted.
It makes me appreciate, again, what the Lord had to go through for me when I was that way, and it brings me to repentance all over again, just as the priests eventually repented.
Hopefully, this young man will have that talk with God very soon after all.
By
loren, at 9/08/2005 1:51 AM
Amen! God is good. may we always remember his patience to us so that we have it toward others. O that all men would have the understanding u have brother. Ah but it is God not you. Glory to him alone.
By
Bhedr, at 9/11/2005 4:06 PM
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