There is nothing more mysterious to man than the
mystery of the realm of grace. Man has not only consistently struggled to
abdicate his throne to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, but he also continually
struggles to understand how that Lordship of Jesus works out in his life.
Sooner or later, man always seems to flounder in every aspect of living
life.
Although man puts forth tremendous effort to live, he consistently fails to
experience continual life. He often becomes confused in his search to
experience the good life. The realm of living the abundant life, the realm
of grace, invariably eludes him. He frustrates the grace of God.
Mysteriously, the more man turns to himself to enhance his life the more
lacking his life becomes. The more he attempts to live, the more he dies.
The more he dies, the more he knows that life is more than what he is
experiencing.
Moreover, man, without Christ, no longer has the capability even to perceive
the realm where that good life is experienced. He simply cannot understand
the mystery of the realm of grace that led Paul to declare ". . . all
the body by joints and bands [attachments] having nourishment ministered
[fully supplied], and knit together [united together], increaseth [to grow]
with the increase [growth] of God" (Col. 2:19). Man cannot
comprehend the mystery of his needs being fulfilled only in others,
the mystery of the relationship of love.
It is not that most men do not perceive the need for others. They do.
However, most men see others only as a means to their end. Without the
revelation of Jesus Christ, man will always use others to meet his
perceived needs.
Man, at his best, will endeavor to acquire some admirable social skills to
enhance his interaction with others. However, he will develop those skills
only to have a more stable existence with the least amount of personal
trouble for himself. He is willing to give up the fulfillment of some of his
short term desires in order that his personal enhancement might reap greater
dividends in the future. Although he may not openly abuse others, he simply
does not understand that the life he desires to experience can only be found
in, not by, others.
On the other hand, man, at his worst, constantly finds himself in abusive
relationships. Paul described this abuse to the Philippians: "For many
walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that
they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: Whose end is destruction, whose
God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly
things" (3:18,19). Sadly, the very thing in which man attempts to find
glory, his enhancement, is, in reality, his shame.
With his "belly" (inner selfish desires) as his God, man
unknowingly plunges into his death. He does not perceive that the end of his
abusiveness is hell. Minding earthly things, he misses the life of the
heavenly realm, the life of love.
The self-centeredness of the natural man always causes him to interpret life
in such a way that he will continually endeavor to enhance himself. For
example, Jesus' statements concerning the greatest commandments in the law
are always twisted by man to feed his individuality. Jesus said, ". . .
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul,
and with all thy mind . . . And the second is like [similar] unto it, Thou
shalt love thy neighbour as thyself" (Matt. 22:37,39). The
natural man will always proclaim that the love of self is necessary before
others can be loved.
Certainly, man will not love his neighbor unless there is a sense of
wholesomeness within himself. He will not be able to open himself to his
neighbor to form meaningful attachments unless there is a sense of security
about himself. He must have a sense of well-being that is not easily
threatened by the fear of rejection.
Does this sense of wholesomeness and security, however, come from loving
himself? Does he, in some way, develop a sense of feeling so good about
himself that it eventually overflows to his neighbor?
The good natural man claims it to be so. Mysteriously, however, in
"loving himself," he still struggles to experience the life of
continual fulfillment. The more he loves himself the satisfying, contented
life is experienced less and less.
Jesus, who has and is experiencing love within the Trinity (the unity of the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit), is revealing something far greater
than the challenge of the individual’s love for God, love for self, and
love for others. He is revealing the mystery of "life in others,"
the mystery of the realm of grace.
Jesus is stating that the sum of all the law is fulfilled within the
"oneness of threeness," the relationship of love. As has often
been stated, real joy is Jesus, others, and you. It is
less, however, an individual’s love flowing from one to the other than it
is the jointly experiencing of love together.
The only way man can have a love for himself, which will not produce the
same fall that occurred in Lucifer, Adam, and in every man who began to turn
the emphasis upon himself, is to understand that love must occur in the
mystery of "oneness in threeness." His sense of well-being comes
not from within himself but rather from the experiences of love in a
wholesome relationship.
It is never the individual’s love for God, love for himself, and then love
for others. "Love thy God . . . and . . . love thy neighbour as
thyself" is to be understood in the light of how one experiences
perfecting love. The love that perfects flows only in threeness: God, an
individual, and his neighbor. Without others, an individual will never be
perfected.
"Love thy God . . . and . . . love thy neighbour as thyself" is to
be comprehended in the revelation of the creation of man. The creation of
Adam (Gen. 2:7) was incomplete without the creation of Eve (Gen. 2:18-25).
It was not good for man to be alone, even though his relationship with God
was without sin.
"Love thy God . . . and . . .love thy neighbour as thyself" is to
understand "even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from
generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make
known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles;
which is Christ in you [not singular, but plural], the hope of
glory" (Col. 1:26,27). It is to understand that the ultimate definition
of what it means to be a Christian can only be defined, mysteriously, in
the light of another person.
In other words, a complete person, in the Judeo-Christian perspective,
cannot be defined as a singular individual. Just as God cannot be defined
without the Oneness of His Threeness (the unity of God the Father, God the
Son, and God the Holy Spirit), man cannot be defined without the oneness of
his threeness (the unity of God, the individual, and his neighbor). A
complete person is defined only as a distinct individual who has the essence
of his being in God and in, at least, one other person. He is always defined
in the light of others, in the light of the relationship of love. It
is the realm of grace.
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