The Love of God

The word "love" is a commonly used word. Boy meets girl or man meets woman and the hormones surge and they call it romantic love. This is the way of western society. It is called romantic love because it's "sexy" love having a lot to do with physical needs mixed with psychological and emotional needs and all triggered by the discovery that someone else can actually find you important and want to be with you.

There is a lot of hype(*1) over "sexual love". The movies are full of it. It is often cast amidst scenes of violence that draw the viewer mentally into the action. As such it acts as a form of brain washing. The so-called "sexy" look is promoted in commercials for cars all the way to tooth paste and soap. But love that is simply a focus on sexual pleasure, sexual appearance, sexual stature, and lust is not only a selfish indulgence it causes more problems than it solves.

Once the physical needs are satisfied and one or both members of the couple have developed some self esteem then a couple comes face to face with each other's character deficiencies and immaturity. In western society 2/3 of all marriages end in divorce because this kind of love is not capable of "bonding" and establishing a basis for a life long relationship. Marriage, according to the New Testament, is supposed to be a partnership of help and support as well as serving as the basis for bringing up a family. Today the concept of marriage has mutated away from this definition. But from a Christian perspective, a life long relationship of marriage requires an intimacy involving trust, honesty, patience, empathy, forgiveness, perseverance and supportive and collaborative care. This care must be more than just thoughts and feelings it must be expressed as behavior and deeds based on honest trusting selfless interaction.

In the New Testament, marriage between a man and a woman is compared to the Body of Christ because both require the same attitudes and motivations characterized by the above list. But this comparison is from the perspective of New Testament writers who assume that marriage conforms to the above character list. Notice that sex is not included in that list. Sex in marriage is assumed by these New Testament writers but occurring in the environment characterized by the above list.

In the New Testament sex is looked at as a human need on the same level as food, drink, clothing, and the other aspects of physical survival. Both partners in a marriage are to attend to each other's survival needs but not in excess or at the expense or sacrifice of an intimate social intercourse characterized by the above list. The above list resembles the "fruits of the spirit" as listed out by Paul.

Marriage should involve a learning curve regarding how one partner in the marriage gets along with the other. Marriage should therefore become a strong relationship of support and caring. In a way, marriage should prepare a Christian to be caring towards other Christians, just as they are with their spouse but with sex not being part of that equation which defines the relationship. A well developed Christian marriage should be an excellent example of the kind of intimate social intercourse members of the Body of Christ engage when they gather together. Christians should be able to look beyond the gender aspect of being human. Christians should be able to look beyond the differences of personality, education, training, upbringing, language, and race. Christians should be able to look into each others heart in empathy and understanding, with sympathy and compassion, with intense caring and see the presence of Christ at work within one another. Again, sex is not an issue even though in a marriage the issues of physical survival are common. We have to understand this social intimacy from the perspective of the New Testament writers, not by the ways of this world and the hype (*1) and distortion of movies and television which tend to throw sexual overtones into any kind of social intimacy.

To digress a bit. Sex is reserved by God as exclusively belonging to marriage. However, sex is not the only human survival need that gets special attention regarding how man deals with it. Drunkenness for example is also condemned in the scriptures. Sexual immorality, drunkenness, foolishness, insulting filthy language, and other forms of behavior such as hatred, jealousy, persecution, discrimination, and many other forms of behavior bring shame to mankind because they violate the purpose and plan of God for mankind. That purpose and plan is that we are to be Christ Like in our attitudes and motivations and become co-workers with Christ.

The bible is replete with statements condemning sexual immorality and worship of anything other than God. In our western society there is a tendency to "worship" activities such as sex, sports, and violent activities involving murder, death, and destruction. Most Westerners would deny this because their definition of worship involves prayer, praise, and usually reverence. By worship I do not mean only "to bow before or to pray to". The word worship is often used in the bible with regard to God. However, the word "worship" has a general meaning that is common between both the bible and society at large and we will define worship in that general way in a moment. But by way of background let us note a few things. Many of the movies and books of western society are full of emotionally packed violent content interspersed with sexual infidelity and gobs of suspense and drama to keep the viewer or reader entertained and emotionally involved in the content. The absorption of this content is a form of "poison" to the human mind which tends to create a fixation towards that same kind of conduct. This leaves western type cultures in a dichotomy being civilized but yet obsessed with a hunger which is poisoning society as a whole. In addition many of the values of western society also show an obsession, preoccupation, or intense focus for the acquirement of material possessions, wealth, power or manipulation over others, physical appearance, clothing, and popularity. There is a constant strain ( in the form of social peer pressure ) on the average person in western society to "keep up with the Jones'", to prove you are as good or better than others by your possessions and those you associate with, and to maintain a standard of living and a socially acceptable ("in" ) appearance. Women are concerned with their hair, finger nail, and toe nail color, eye lash size and shape, facial makeup - color, amount and texture, color and type of lip stick, size of their breasts, shape of their legs and other body parts, height of their dress and amount of flesh displayed, and so on. Men try to be manly or macho and talk and act in way they feel conveys this. Men are occupied with their sexual organ, their muscles, their size and shape, their hair, strength, and so on. With regard to possessions both men and woman go to similar degrees of excess and triviality. They often identify with their material possession including their house or apartment, their car and clothing, and so on. This description of triviality driven by social pressure and cultural orientation could go on for pages. What is alarming is that many Christians have given themselves over to this same triviality of the glamorous and materialistic life style as set out in Hollywood movies. It is this intense focus or obsession that is also an aspect of the word worship. So let us get into the meaning of the word worship.

Only God is worthy of worship. Worship is reverence and appreciation. God is the beginning and end, the very source and force of creation of which we are a part. Therefore, any tendency to disregard God as our source and provider is a form of idolatry. Extending reverence and appreciation in a focus on anything other than God as our source and force is to worship that focus. As Christians we should extend our focus of reverence and appreciation in a way that recognizes God as foremost in all things even those associated with physical survival. Here again, the dream analogy comes in handy. If God is the dreamer and creation is the dream then a proper perspective of creation is a perspective that sees God as all in all. So regardless of the interaction occurring within the dream (analogous to creation or life) if we see anything other than God as our reality we have separated ourselves from the True Reality - God. Therefore, how we perceive life in our minds is critical to our sense of reality and that perception defines possible and impossible or opportunities that come out of that sense of reality. Christ was an example or model regarding behavior of the Christian. Jesus taught that we should be motivated by God according to his purposes and plan for mankind. This means we must take on a mind like the mind of Christ and demonstrate the general attitudes and motivations that Jesus demonstrated. Jesus introduced to mankind the New Reality - life in God, life with God, life from God. As Jesus said, "you are nothing without me". Indeed, we are literally nothing without God.

A lot of Christians simply cannot make this distinction between our behavior according to the template of righteousness set by Christ and the template set by those that worship the world and the things in the world. To them the intimacy (what there is of it) of marriage is confidential and exclusive to that marriage. They confuse the issues of their physical needs with the template of intimacy and conduct set by Christ. To them the basis of the marriage is sex not God. They confuse sex and social intimacy and are not prepared to extend intimacy with other Christians. Therefore, because they cannot extend the trust and intimacy to other Christians they "guard" their marriage as if it is a possession. Thus honest, trusting, and selfless interaction with others is made impossible. Their lives gradually degrade down to the utter trivial we noted above. This conflict comes directly out of the world system, the reality it imparts and the standards and values it promotes. Unfortunately, there are many so-called Christians that practice sexual immorality having adopted the normal western world view on life. They simply cannot interact with other Christians in a trusting, empathic, honest, patient, forgiving, collaborative and socially intimate social intercourse because they confuse "sex" into this equation of the relationship where it has no part in this equation. The equation I speak of is the relationship of Divine Fellowship of Believers which Paul called the Body of Christ. In fact, these perverted professing Christians not only injure the Body of Christ but they muddy the basis of their own marriage because of their preoccupation with the sexual aspects of physical life.

These kinds of professing Christians approach the Divine Fellowship in fear and foreboding. Their minds are contaminated with the reality, standards, and values common to those of this world. Their minds have been poisoned. In point of fact no Christian should be sexually interested in some other Christians wife or husband. But every Christian should be interested in every other Christian as Christians. They should be to one another, kind, gentle, empathic, patient, guiding and leading one another by example. They should be to one another supportive, trusting, honest, persevering, collaborative and socially intimate. The fact that most professing Christians refuse and fear to do this indicates the sad state of Christianity in the modern world. In fact, we have in many so-called churches just the opposite of this social intimacy. We have cruelty, harshness, unsympathetic attitudes, impatience, no leadership, poor examples of leadership, critical and condemning attitudes, distrust, dishonesty cloaked in smiles, handshakes, and hugs, insincere prayers, social correct behavior, all kept cohesive by orchestrated group activities led by designated church leaders as opposed to collaborative intimate social interaction of ministry and caring one to another.

Then there is the love of material possessions, status, power to manipulate others, and many other almost obsessive preoccupations with different aspects of living in this world. There are those that try to make sex the central focus of their lives. Then again, there are those that live for food and make fine food, fine restaurants, fine wine, a primary focus in their lives. There are those that make a sport their obsession and it becomes everything to them. There are those that make their home, car, and furniture an obsession and sign of success. And there are those that make religion an obsession. It's true, people can be very "religious" but not have the Christian experience of "oneness" with God through Christ. To be a Christian is to be like Christ and to follow the leadership of Christ.

All love is a particular kind of "caring" for something or someone. Thought or thinking, feelings and emotions, attitudes, and motivations collectively characterize the human soul or mind. All of these collectively give rise to behavior in the form of conduct and deeds. Each person's behavior has its' underlying basis of attitudes and motivations coming out of their thoughts and feelings. The Love of God is a specific caring of the Creator for the creation.

There is also inadequate love. Inadequate love is caring that remains at the thought or feeling level of the human mind and never takes expression in the form of behavior manifesting as actions and deeds. In the case of God, He carries through with His purpose and plan in creation by making man through Christ a co-worker with Christ. So the Love of God is caring that begins as thought and ends in behavior manifesting as deeds and actions. These deeds and actions of God involve Jesus Christ as the focal point for the transformation of becoming Christ Like in our general attitudes, motivations and behavior. Christ is our teacher, leader, lord, master, king, friend, example, and mediator or interface to God. This is not "religion" in the traditional sense of the word. This is the "way" to an "experience" of "oneness" with God. This is to be our reality and as such it is a New Reality because it is not the reality imparted by this world. This is the Reality where God is perceived as all in all, the beginning and the end, the alpha and the omega. Everything in life takes its significance within this New Reality as in the "dream analogy". It is obvious that man will become obsessed with something. Man needs something or someone to worship even if it's his own mind. We must become obsessive with God and the difference in our behavior will be that we manifest His Love rather than the loves of this world. We must give up who we are and become a New Creation in God through Christ

The problem with many Christians today is that they think and feel regarding the Love of God but they cannot express in their behavior and deeds the thinking and feeling aspect of their caring. They cannot participate in the Body of Christ, as citizens of the Kingdom of God because they cannot engage each other in trust and minister one to another according to the teachings of the New Testament. See the article on the Pentecostal Culture of care and intimacy between New Testament Christians and their victorious power as overcomers. Most so-called Christian organizations in the form of denominations are organized to control and manipulate their members in orchestrated well-managed church approved patterns and objectives. Within this context there is little room for Divine Fellowship as has been explained above. In point of fact, the social situation most evident within these many denominations is not the accord and harmony of individual members ministering to one another in an honest, trusting and collaborative supporting social intimacy. Rather we have highly orchestrated, well planned and supervised projects and church activities including prayer and worship where such intimacy between Christians is not required and not wanted. The intimacy promoted in most of these orchestrated services is intimacy between just man and God. In this they make a glaring error. As Christ demonstrated, a relationship or intimacy between man and God implies intimacy between believers. They are not two separate forms of intimacy. God is a social being. To know God, that is to have a relationship with God, is to become a social being and be an extension of God into that social framework. This is the mystery of the Body of Christ - the Divine Fellowship of saints. The Holy Spirit works within and through the kind of socially intimate environment I speak of here. Whereas, the influence of the Holy Spirit in the orchestrated environment is indirect, through the individual involved in the leadership decision making whether it involves worship in the form of prayer and praise, or not. God directs not one but all. God works not only individually but individually in a collective frame work. He does not engage in a democratic process, He leads. There is no debate or democratic vote taken regarding how God interacts with man. The gospel is the why and how of that interaction. The true gospel is a mandate authored by God. It is clearly described throughout the New Testament. Be aware, the majority is not always right, holy, and obedient to the Spirit. People having a responsive attitude to the direction of God expressed by Christ through the Holy Spirit by means of their thoughts and feelings are not groomed in a man made orchestrated environment but rather in an open and free, intimate and collaborative social intercourse. As long as "church", the gathering together of believers, is directed by man through well planned and synchronized orchestrated activities the Holy Spirit is not leading the gathering - man is leading the gathering. And these so-called leaders make sure everyone including God knows this. That is why they "invite" the Holy Spirit into "their" service of worship. Where, might I ask, is the Holy Spirit before the "invite".

I have news for these people. They don't do the inviting, God does. The Holy Spirit is to be integrated into our mind where our very thoughts and feelings which give rise to our attitudes and motivations express as our behavior and deeds. It is the Holy Spirit who gathers and directs, who is with us always, within whom we live and who lives within us. We are the temple of the Living God. For those who have this reality it is offensive to see a man or woman adorned as a religious leader parade about from some high place of status thinking that he or she is the source of spiritual care. They appear to think that without them the "church" would collapse into a shambles. They appear to think that the success of the church is due to their influence. Their focus is on quantity not quality. Success to these leaders is a big church full of many people most of whom don't even know each others names. They even compete with one another regarding the "success" of their ministries as church leaders. They have not nor do they intend to prepare these people to minister to one another and enjoy the social intimacy where Christ is the focus. They do not want to surrender the prestige and authority for which they have worked for many years. They deny this, while standing right at the pulpit. But their denial is rarely followed with a giving over of the service completely to the Holy Spirit. They remain in charge to ensure things go the way they want. They cannot trust God to do be God in their midst. Their gathering is being manipulated according to their notions and beliefs and they ensure this through doing the orchestration themselves or having designated others help out. Most certainly, there will be many church leaders that will be offended by my general description of church leadership. So I will say it even more clearly.

The problem with the Christian church today is the church leadership. Their perception of their job is far, far, far from the New Testament description and expectations of the New Testament writers. They value being leaders more than being servants of the many they should be preparing and equipping so these many can engage in the intimate and caring ministry of one to another as taught in the New Testament. They consider themselves superior to the many and cannot bring themselves to stand down and participate with the many in this kind of social caring intimacy as dominated by the Holy Spirit. Their excuse is always the same from the beginning to the end of their ministries. "We cannot step down into this kind of environment because the many are not ready". Yet they never seem able to convince and persuade the many towards this end. So they remain manipulators of the many by blaming the many.

There is value and purpose in having church leaders as made clear in the New Testament. One thing here is very clear, that role is not to usurp the role of the Holy Spirit. The role of church leaders is to prepare and equip the saints for Divine Fellowship not feed the saints and manipulate them according to denominational directives and objectives. The role of church leadership is to prepare and equip believers and certainly not to become the source of spiritual nourishment. A secondary role of church leadership is to deal with other social issues.

Why is this social intimacy so important? Can't we just get along without it? Many try and they all eventually fail or set up the church for failure. The Body of Christ is the Divine Fellowship of Believers. This fellowship is to exist within a context conducive to the direct (not indirect) influence of the Holy Spirit. For this reason Christians are to be baptized by the Holy Spirit. (Don't confuse this with water baptism which is a public confession of faith). They are to receive gifts and abilities from the Holy Spirit. They are to recognize Christ in fellow believers and submit (give credibility and collaborate by listening, supporting, interacting, leading and/or following) in the relationship between believers and between believers and God, all made possible by Jesus Christ. Here we have individual believers ministering to one another as well as ministering to believers collectively. We also have the collective group of believers ministering to individuals. This relationship is the witness of Christ to the world. This relationship is the basis of the gospel. The whole point of bringing another person through repentance and conversion is so they might become members (participating and interacting ministers to one another) of the Body of Christ. The Body of Christ, the Divine Fellowship of Believers is the model of community for the world. Jesus Christ is the model of human attitudes, motivations, and behavior. The Body of Christ is the social interface between believers and non-believers - a testimony of God's plan and purpose for man. Jesus Christ is the mediator or interface between man and God. As such Christ takes on a corporate form - a kingdom wherein God and His Lamb and all true believers live. Jesus Christ is worthy to open the Book of Life (*2) and who has their name in this Book of Life? The answer is: Only a Christian - one who is transformed to be Christ Like and who follows Christ, his leading, his purpose, his person, and his example.

 (*1) Hype. A western slang word not in the dictionary. It has a variety of meanings depending upon the context. It is mostly used to refer to a kind of over inflated social excitement where people have become manipulated into excitement or impassioned or entranced with something or someone. It refers to the acclaim and exaggeration in the form of publicity given things by advertising agencies in their effort to excite people into action to buy something or "buy" into a concept. It refers to the talk, communications, bill boards, TV advertisements, and other forms of making something generally known but in a way where such communication tends to exaggerate what is spoken of in order to be convincing. It involves the idea of promoting an idea or product. The word carries the suggestion that something is emphasized beyond what is reasonable, made overly attractive, or misrepresents the real thing. The word suggests emotional behavior about someone or something beyond what is reasonable and factual.

(*2) The figurative expression "Book Of Life" is used in the last book in the New Testament - Revelation. See the section in the OOLSB called Revelation. The symbology of names written in the Book of Life is meant to convey the certainty that the "overcomers" have as a co-workers with Christ. The term "overcome" is introduced in the first part of Revelation.

The use of "name" is to suggest a new identity in Christ. The use of "written" is to suggest agreement and commitment. The use of "book or scroll" is to suggest formality and permanence and that which contains what has been written as a reference source. The use of "life" is to suggest living in the presence of God the only true reality. Only God incarnate as Jesus Christ is able to make a believer Christ Like.

The criteria giving rise to this certainty is two fold. First the believer has sought be be reconciled to God through Christ based not on anything the believer has done but only on what Christ has done and will do on behalf of the believer. As such the believer is imputed by God to have the "righteousness" of Christ (white clothing). This righteousness refers to the general Christ Like character of mind that the believer must use as a model or template of change. Salvation is the process that begins with repenting or turning away from the worldly carnal mind and becoming transformed with a mind and character that is Christ Like. The believers mind, the thoughts and feelings of the believer which give rise to attitudes and motivations expressed as behavior and deeds must eventually become Christ Like.

Only Christ can enable this transformation which I call the New Reality. When the transformation progresses to a point where the attitudes, motivations, and behavior of the believer are Christ Like then the believer has become an overcomer. But who determines when this likeness has been achieved? Christ is in charge of this transformation but the believer must be willing to die to self in order to live in Christ. This is the notion of the New Reality where all things become new in Christ. The free will of the believer is an issue affecting if and how the transformation progresses. Peter cautioned believers to persevere. The believer must be committed, prepared and willing to cooperate with the transforming process. Christ makes this determination that a believer is an overcomer.

Agreeing to accept what Christ has done is one thing. Agreeing to be transformed is entirely another thing. Salvation is freely available to all. But there is a price to pay for transformation into the New Reality and that price is to make God central in our lives, and our minds Christ Like. Believers must become true co-workers, members of the Divine Fellowship Of Believers - the Body of Christ. Figuratively speaking, this determination regarding a believer has been written in the Book of Life.

But there are also indications that a believer has become an overcomer. First, the believer has established "oneness" with God by means of the Holy Spirit as sent into the believers life by Christ.. Second, this bonding or integration of the believers spirit/mind to Divine Spirit/Mind sets off a transformation towards the New Reality where the believers mind becomes an extension of the Divine Mind. The degree of this transformation is evident by the behavior and deeds of the believer. Has the believer demonstrated the love/caring of God on an ongoing basis? If the answer is yes then that believer is an overcomer.

Above, in the main body of this article called "The Love Of God", the character of that love has been partially defined in terms of its most important aspects.