26. My Brethren Love Me
We have now come to the most difficult part of reciprocal Love, at least for men, that is, receiving Love. The most humbling thing I have ever done is to acknowledge that my brothers and sisters love me with all the outpoured Love of God, regardless of what they say or do and regardless of what I feel.
The most difficult thing for me to do, then, is to continue in that acknowledgment, even when my brother or sister continues to do things that are hurtful to me. Yet it is here that the dwelling place God and I create together really begins to unfold.
To Share Life with God. When someone continues to do something wrong against us, our defensive position has always been some form of accusation, even if it is just low-grade complaint. Yet the Bible says that the love of God IS poured out in their hearts towards all and towards me.
To share life with God, then, and to turn every next step we take together into intrinsic goodness, I must receive that person as and inside of the Lord Jesus. Receiving love is costly, and it is the true essence of completion. “Giving love” puts one in control, but receiving love makes one vulnerable and even subject.
The Jesus Secret Page. Let’s set out the parts of this lesson. This Jesus Secret page begins with the enflowing of word for John 15:12-17, which is the entire short passage covered by these two pages. The enflowing of word is followed by three boxes titled “Receiving Love,” “My Brothers and Sisters,” and “Friendship.” Our emphasis will be on friendship. The page ends with a Jesus Secret box. We must come back to the fact that this line has meaning only as it is Jesus speaking His Completion into us.
The Enflowing of Word. I am the completion of Christ Jesus. That means that I love my brothers and sisters in Christ in exactly the same way that Jesus loves me, even while my brothers and sisters love me as Jesus loves them. We love one another, back and forth, reciprocally.
Jesus is my friend. He gives me place inside of His soul that I might be joined together with God my Father inside of Him. Jesus demonstrates His friendship to me by causing me to be everything He hears concerning me in the presence of the Father. Jesus chose me, personally, as a friend for Himself. Jesus has set me forth and established me that I be led by the Father.
Pressed into Honesty. I am Jesus’ friend. I keep His words. I give my brothers and sisters a place inside my soul where they can be joined together with the Father completely free of me. I love my brothers and sisters reciprocally.
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This topic is pressing me into honesty. I know that women perceive this topic in a different way than men, and so I can speak only for men. Giving puts me in control; it puts me on top. Receiving places me under, and it gives me no options, especially when I want to reject.
An Effort to Be “Better.” Of course, Jesus said, “It is better to give than to receive.” Peter’s example of “taking the lowest place” in order to be “on top” shows us what we do with such a word. “Well, I will be the one giving so that I can be BETTER.” And it never dawns on us that our “giving” can result in a massive barrier between us and the person to whom we are giving, a barrier that prevents actual friendship.
As I ponder some of the many intense and difficult places I have known in people relating together, I realize that the ability to receive meant true reciprocal love, whereas the unwillingness to receive meant friction and hardness.
Refusal to Receive. Men will lie about themselves and their own needs rather than allow themselves to be put under into receiving. Those lies will break friendship, but men don’t care. They prefer the high citadel of their own “rightness.” In fact, the more I think about it, the more I realize that all conflict is nothing more than a lie draped over a refusal to receive. Rejection of community is a refusal to receive.
I have shared that through my years in Christian community, I placed myself under the covering of the elderships in each community – around 100 different individuals in total, an equal number of men and women.
Being Received – or Not. I would guesstimate that across the span of those individuals, maybe 20% received me with respect in some way. The remainder not so much. Those elders who were the most difficult for me, in fact, were the ones who never received me, maybe 20% on the other side of the spectrum.
The three I have mentioned, Abel Ramirez, Don Howat, and Rick Annett, always received me as their equal with joy. It was their open and continuous receiving of me that allowed me to flourish while I walked with them. They allowed me to give to them and valued what I gave.
Receiving Each Other. Receive one another in exactly the same way that Jesus receives us (Romans 14). Friendship requires two things. It requires equality of heart and honesty of words. If there is no friendship, there is no reciprocal love.
When I think of the thirty-plus years I have lived with Maureen, I realize that dominating each other or being dishonest towards each other has never entered our minds. Lying is about control. False humility is about control. Friendship is about receiving each other equally and without any pretense or masquerade.
Receiving Love. I receive the love my brothers and sisters give to me with an open and welcoming heart. I know that the Love of God is poured out in their hearts towards me. For that reason, I receive from them as if it is Jesus loving me through them even when they might say or do things that offend me or when I don’t feel like it. I receive the love of my brethren with equality of heart and honesty of words. I always speak the truth concerning myself and concerning God-Love among us. Even when receiving humbles me, I rejoice in their giving.
All Kinds of People. Then, when I cast my mind again across my years in various Christian communities, I realize that I shared life together in commitment with maybe 600-700 different individuals, all of whom I knew by name and with most of whom I shared some form of relationship. All kinds of people.
The greatest change in my life came when the idea that “different can be valued” first entered my awareness. Every person who belongs to Jesus is unique in many different ways. Each one is an expression of the Father’s Person. Each one is of great value to me.
Love Is Hard. The primary difficulty with God’s people, however, is that each one is convinced that they are “right” and that I am, therefore, “wrong.” “I agree with you on a number of things,” really means, “I think that most of what you teach is nonsense.” This is just one of so many ways in which people express their own “rightness” against my “wrongness.” And community simply amplifies the contradiction.
God’s people are extraordinarily discouraging. And we have been even more discouraging to God. Love is not blither. Love is real, and love is HARD.
My Brothers and Sisters. My brothers and sisters are many, all kinds of people. I treat with each equally, regardless of outward status, for each is as the Lord Jesus to me. I value the fact that each one does things differently than I do them. I receive them even if they seem to oppose me, even as they also receive me even when I am obnoxious. I include all who are in close proximity to me; I include all across earth and heaven. We give and receive favor together.
Friends of Jesus. You are My friends, if you do what I speak into you {love one another and believe into Me}. I no longer call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing. But you I have called beloved friends, for all that I have heard in the presence of My Father, I have made known to you.
I do not believe that Jesus meant, “You are My friends if you do what I tell you to do.” That is not friendship. I believe that He meant, “You are My friends as you share the same Word together with Me.” He meant a full equality of heart and harmony of word.
Sharing Word Together. All that I have heard in the presence of My Father, I have made known to you.
This is a most extraordinary statement, an absolute. Nothing is hidden; no word is left out. Next, this is commitment, complete and unreserved commitment. Jesus cannot deliver to us everything the Father speaks unless we spend all our time together. We see an equality of respect in these words as well. Of truth, Jesus is expressing Himself as a servant to us. Finally, we see that the result of this action of Jesus is that He and we share together the same Word.
Qualities of Friendship. We can see five larger qualities of friendship in the things Jesus says in John 15. Let’s list them first.
1. Commitment to one another resulting in doing many things together.
2. Sharing an equality of heart, a seeing of one another as equals.
3. Being fully honest and true to one another.
4. Sharing the same word, vision, and purpose together.
5. Readiness to pay any price required to maintain and to strengthen the friendship.
Commitment. The word commitment means, by its roots, being sent on a mission together, sharing the same purpose. It means to pledge yourself in trust to walk together with another. Commitment and obligation carry similar meanings except that obligation is imposed from without, whereas commitment is a personal choice. Jesus does not receive me by obligation, but by personal choice. Jesus wants me sharing purpose with Him.
“In exactly the same way” means that we pledge ourselves in trust to share the purposes of daily life together. Commitment is the cost of Love.
Equality. Saying, “I’m just here to serve,” is NOT friendship. False humility is a path some choose in order to remain isolated and, in their imagination, in control. Saying, “I’m in charge,” is NOT friendship either.
When I think of every true friendship I have known in my life, I realize that there was an openly expressed equality towards one another, a sharing together of the burden. There may have been differences in ability and place, but towards one another there was an equality of heart. Friendship is bearing the load together; it is the deepest level of fellowship.
Honesty. A lie breaks friendship, even the “smallest” of lies. One who says what he thinks the other “wants to hear” is simply exercising control and keeping distance. Parents who lie to their children BREAK any bond there might be.
We do keep personal privacy, for respect gives one another such place. But we are honest about our motivation in every interaction, and we never spin made-up stories. Friendship is trust; it is entrusting ourselves to one another. It is a sacred trust. If you had a painting worth $100 million, you would never dirty it. Friendship is worth far more than that.
Sharing Word and Vision. Can two walk together, unless they are agreed (Amos 3:3)?
Of truth, sharing the same word and vision is the essence of friendship. All the other terms are the mechanics of friendship, but sharing word and vision are it’s center. Fellowship is sharing soul together. It is the true story we tell one another in our conscious awareness of our togetherness. The Covenant is our shared word; the Kingdom is our shared vision. The Father’s purpose is our shared word; the revelation of Jesus Christ is our shared vision.
All Word that I hear inside the presence of the Father, I make known to you.
Readiness to Sacrifice. Friendship costs everything. The Blood Covenant by which Jesus binds us to God means that God first gives all of Himself to us and, in return, we give all of ourselves to God. When God said to me, twice, “Will you surrender all that you are to Me, right now,” He also meant, “Will you accept all that I am given to you in Covenant together?”
When Jesus said, “Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect,” He meant, receive one another, for your brother or sister is Me to you.” Those who are wise will give everything of themselves for friendship together, for that IS “Jesus come.”
Friendship with Jesus. As I state elsewhere, I now know that full Salvation is simply friendship with God – by these definitions. Nonetheless, John 15 is not yet about knowing God; rather, the friendship expressed here is with Jesus and one another. We cannot know friendship with God except we know friendship with Jesus and with one another. Since this page is meant to reflect John 15, we will word the “Friendship” box in terms of our friendship with Jesus.
There are two more qualities of friendship as well. Friends enable one another, and friends limit one another. Friends provide a power that enables us to thrive in what we are, even while keeping us from our own excess.
Friendship. I am a friend to the Lord Jesus, even as He is my Friend. I commit myself to His interests and desires even as He commits Himself entirely to mine. I share equality of heart with Jesus, just as He also does with me. We stand together in all things. Just as Jesus shares with me every Word the Father speaks concerning me, so I share myself with Him openly and honestly. I never hide my flesh from Jesus, but I give all to Him. Jesus and I share all word together, and vision and purpose; we speak the same Word.
Jesus and I share soul together, and we join all others to Father inside our shared soul. Jesus and I pay any price to be together, to share all together. The cost of our friendship is a joy. Then I turn and receive my brothers and sisters in the same way, even as Jesus Himself. We share commitment together as equals in all honesty. We fellowship together, soul to soul, with joy and regardless of cost.
Acknowledging Friendship. It is Jesus’ immediate and continuous friendship with me that enables me to be and to do that for which I am created, that which causes me to sing. Jesus keeps me close. I acknowledge that friendship. I hear the Lord Jesus speaking always to me. That’s what He said. Jesus is always coming to me from the Father and sharing with me all that the Father is and means. Jesus never leaves anything out.
Jesus and I are committed never to leave each other. I share equality of heart and purpose with Him. We are always honest with each other. We share the same Word and vision. Jesus and I sacrifice everything for our friendship.
The Jesus Secret. My dear one, look Me right in the eyes and know who is speaking into you. I am made complete as you love your brothers and sisters with the Father’s love, even as you receive the same love from them. This love of friendship is My completion in My Church. It is My completion inside of you. Am I able to cause you to be this reciprocal love shared with your brethren? Look into Me and know that I already am.
Father Glorified. Reciprocal love is giving and receiving from and to one another in exactly the same way that Jesus gives to and receives from us, that is Blood Covenant. All and all. Reciprocal love is Christ Community. You cannot talk about “loving one another” unless you are “on your way” to committed community, in intention. You can love people in your experience, but that is not reciprocal love, apart from some level of committed friendship, and thus not yet the revelation of Jesus Christ.
When I say, “My brethren love me,” I am giving all that I am to the Father, that He might be glorified in me.
Reading for Next Time. The next lesson is titled “The World Hates Me.” The primary text for this lesson is John 15:18 through 16:4. Nonetheless, there are segments also later in Chapters 16 and 17. So, for this next lesson, read all of John Chapters 15, 16, & 17 in the JSV.
So that the word written in their law might be fulfilled, ‘They hated Me freely and without purpose.’ Or – as in the NKJ – They hated Me without a cause. The meaning of this line, “They hated Me without a cause,” has been growing in my understanding. It is an absolute definition of humans upon this earth. There is no cause for any animosity against God. NONE!
Let’s Pray Together. We are synergeoing with God for the sake of our brothers and sisters across the earth. Yet “love one another” is Christ Community, and our hearts are broken until God has made Jerusalem a praise in all the earth.
“God, our Father, we know that Your entrance into our world means that we place ourselves together with You under others for their sakes, that they might know You. Father, we direct Your Heart and ours towards Your people, all who belong to Jesus, regardless. Even if they have given themselves to deceit, they are still Your Church, Your beloved Jerusalem. We acknowledge that all sins are gone by the Sacrifice of Jesus; not one person belongs to wrong.
“God, our Father, be an awakening of Love inside each one towards one another. Be that commitment that each one makes to walk together in daily life. Be that equality of Hheart that each shares with each. Father, let Your truth prevail in the lives of all believers in Jesus, that there be no more hiding or pretending, no more manipulation or attempts to control.
“Oh God, be the Word each one shares together, be the same vision, the same purpose, the Father’s desire, Jesus proven faithful and true as every Word You speak. Father, we see Your Church, clothed with the Lord Jesus, screaming in pain to bring forth Your Life and Love in all heaven-earth. Be in her the willingness to pay all cost, so that “love one another” might prevail.
“And Father, we also ask for ourselves, according to Your Desire. We ask that the resurrection life of the Lord Jesus Christ, incorruptible and immortal life, would swallow up our physical bodies in joy.
“Even as we have received Your Completion, Oh God, and as we stand upon firm, so we expect You to arise in us immortal, that in our very bodies, we might be the testimony of Jesus in this world, faithful and true, every Word You speak fulfilled.
“We ask all these things, Father, inside of the name of Jesus and as His very words. We know that we have received all that we ask, and we give You all thanks. Let it be so; it is so.”