25. I Love My Brethren
We are now dealing with the eighth ruling verse of the Bible, John 15:12-13 with 1 John 3:16. Here it is in totality, the first item on the Jesus Secret page.
This is My full completion, that you love one another in full reciprocity just exactly as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, that he should set forth his soul for the sake of his friends. By this we have known love because He set forth His soul for us, for our sakes, and we also are committed to setting forth our souls for our brothers and sisters.
Such a vast subject must be focused to fit on a few pages.
Two Pages. We’ll start with the Jesus Secret page. In fact, we need the layout of both pages to ensure we are complete. On this first page, “I Love My Brethren,” after the box containing the eighth ruling verse, we have “Christ Completion,” then a box called “Reciprocity.” followed by a larger box titled “Love (first part from Webster’s 1926).” On the second page, “My Brethren Love Me,” we have the enflowing of the statements of faith for this topic. Then three boxes, “Receiving Love,” “My Brothers and Sisters,” and “Friendship.” That page will end with a Jesus Secret box.
Commandment. Let’s simply take John 15:12-13 one piece at a time.
Jesus said, “This is My commandment.” The Greek word is entole, that is, IN – Completion. Yes, “commandment” is the correct translation; nonetheless, it means “reach the end, consummation”; that is, inside My completion, inside My end result, what I am here to accomplish inside your life, what means the most to Me. More than that, this is not the “lawgiver” speaking, but the Sustainer of all, the One whose words become us, the One through whom we become. Jesus alone fulfills this word in our lives as we believe.
First Principle of Completion. Yet “love one another” is the completion of Christ; it is the full meaning of Christ, the completion of His entire purpose in God sending Him into us. The first principle of completion is that the Word God speaks must be fulfilled in the Church inside this present age, in all that God means that Word to be.
Remember the definition of “full” as an adverb – thoroughly; completely; exactly; entirely. The conceit Christians hold, that the Word will not be fulfilled in the Church, is OVER. It is struck down. Such repudiation of God is at its end.
God Is Love. We are not so foolish, however, that we would try to “do” this command of Jesus. Our half-baked efforts would be empty of God and of no meaning. The Christian effort to “love” is a sad part of pretending. Love is God; God is Love. The second principle of Completion is that nothing is accomplished except by God and us synergeoing together.
Then, the seventh principal of Completion is that we call it to be so; we call ourselves by the Word God speaks. (The seven principals of Completion are coming up in Lesson 2.2 in Symmorphy VII: Completion.
Earthen Vessels. God does not manifest love except through human vessels. Look at the world, God can “exude Love” all He wants, but it has no effect. Only humans have the authority to act in this heaven-earth. On the other hand, humans are incapable of Love, it’s part of the “we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so the excellency of the power might be of God” side of things.
Yet these words of Jesus must be, and they must be full and complete in fulfillment; that is, once complete, there is no return to not-love. The “rapture” of a non-Reciprocal-Love church repudiates the speaking of Jesus.
Call It to Be So. The only answer to this massive dilemma God has instituted into our design and the design of all heaven-earth is that we must call it to be so. Yet at the same time, I have never observed true reciprocal God-Love outside of Christ Community except to some measure in some marriages.
When Jesus speaks into you, “This is My Completion in you, dear one,” He is speaking you into Christ Community. The Church is the fulness of Christ (Ephesians 1:23). If Jesus is my Lord and my Life, then His Completion is ever before my face and is my immediate commitment.
All or Nothing. We must bring into “Christ Completion” the first impact of another phrase – “in exactly the same way.” Jesus never “tried” to love anybody. He said, “Of Myself, I can do nothing.” Jesus lived in the same sharing of life with the Father that God is bringing us into. Jesus called Himself by the Father, never of Himself.
“In exactly the same way” allows no wiggle room, no “trying to do better.” It is all; it is complete; it is to full measure. Love is all or nothing. As Paul said, “Doing ‘love’ without Father profits nothing.”
Christ Completion. I am complete in Christ, and Christ is fulfilled in me. I receive Jesus’ commandment to me as Himself in power causing me to be all that He speaks. My love for my brethren and their love for me is the end meaning of all that Jesus is inside of our togetherness. Our love together is the proof of Christ faithful and true; it is God seen and known. Because Jesus spoke, “Love one another,” I stand in the certainty that His Words are full and complete in the Church even now. As I synergeo together with my Father, I call His Love to be all.
Allelon. The completion of Christ is NOT “loving people,” however; neither is it “unmerited” love. What if I said to my wife, “Honey, I know you don’t deserve my love, but I’m going to love you anyhow (because I am so superior)?” I never think in such an absurd way and neither does God.
The completion of Christ is “love one another,” a full experience of reciprocity, back and forth, giving and receiving, calling Love to be so together. The Greek term “allelon” is almost more a grammatical device than a word, it indicates full reciprocity.
Love Shared. “Love one another” costs us everything, yet it is a cost we gladly bear, for in every circumstance of our lives, we are building our dwelling place together with God, our dwelling place together and the dwelling place of all creation. “Love one another” is something an individual cannot know by themselves. It’s not a relationship one can have with others who are not of the same knowledge of God.
Love that helps others, love that bears up in meeting other people’s needs, love that keeps on going when it hurts, none of this is reciprocal love, though all of it is God. Reciprocal love is 100% shared.
Equality of Heart. Reciprocal love means that others are loving you to the same degree and in the same manner that you are loving them. Reciprocal love requires an equality of heart; it requires face-to-face honesty. It requires full openness of soul.
In actuality, these words of Jesus, spoken in this way, is the first part of the birthing of the Church as Christ Community. These words of Jesus are entering into our hearing with the full force of CREATION, and they are creating the Church, the very dwelling place of God All-Carrying. We can know the same reciprocity of love with God only when we first know it with other believers in Jesus.
Reciprocity. This Love that Jesus speaks into me together with my local Church is a reciprocal love, a shared love, a back-and-forth love. This is not “unmerited favor”; it is not “loving others.” I share a full equality of love with my brothers and sisters in my local Church. We are committed to one another and to our life together. We are open and honest with each other, face to face and heart to heart. I receive love from my brothers and sisters just as much as I love them. My brothers and sisters receive my love just as much as they love me. We practice calling this reciprocal Love to be the Father sharing our life together.
Tackling “Love.” I know that I did a version of “love” from Webster’s 1926 a few years ago, but I cannot find it. So – we’ll have to do it again fresh. Except, we will have three paragraphs in this box, and only the first will be drawn from the dictionary. For that reason, we need to consider only a portion of the dictionary definitions. Then, the second paragraph will be drawn from a variety of “just-like-God” verses and the third from Paul’s description of Love in 1 Corinthians 13. Since I am already writing on that description in Symmorphy VI: Mankind, it will be easier.
Defining Love. Love: (noun) 1. A feeling of strong personal attachment induced by that which delights or commands admiration, by sympathetic understanding, or by ties of kinship. 2. Manifestation of desire for, and earnest effort to promote, the welfare of a person. 3. Strong liking; fondness; goodwill. 4. Tender and passionate affection for one of the opposite sex.
Love: (verb) 1. To have love for; to experience or manifest love for; to devote one’s love to; to be in love with. 2. To give or experience love. 3. To take delight or pleasure in; to have a strong liking or desire for or interest in; to be pleased with; to like. 5. To thrive in, as the rose loves sunshine.
Training Our Minds. Definition 1 is specifically love as a feeling – and there are definite feelings associated with love. But definition 2 brings the balance, that love is an action towards providing for the well being of another.
Now, because this ruling verse is entirely reciprocity, and never a one-sided or one-directional love, every statement of faith concerning this command of Jesus must be worded in a reciprocal manner. We have never really known full reciprocal love in the church, although it was there to a measure in some of my community experience. We must train our minds away from love as a one-way street to love as a constant back and forth.
Love (Part I). I feel a strong personal attachment to my brethren, even as they feel a strong personal attachment to me. Our shared feeling comes from our delight in, admiration for, and understanding of one another. We are brothers and sisters by Blood; we share the same Jesus. We are always working for one another’s well-being. We strongly like each other. We share tender and passionate affection with pure hearts fervently. I devote my love to my brethren even as they devote their love to me. We have fallen in love with each other. We thrive in the presence of each other’s love.
Being Like God. A human who is just like God is a human who loves other believers in Jesus even as they love him or her in return. This reciprocal Love is God Revealed. It is “what God looks like,” His very image.
When we consider the more than fifteen “be just like God” commandments in the New Testament, we see they relate to love either directly or closely. The first is “Receive one another.” Of course there is “love as Jesus loves” and “forgive as God forgives.” “Be devoted to Me” is the source of Love, and “sitting with Jesus in God’s throne” is the place and rule of Love.
The Bond of the Covenant. “Serve one another as I serve you,” and “I send you as the Father sends Me,” are related together.
Contrast these things with those who are convinced that the devil spoke the truth in the garden. To them, “wanting to be like God” makes a person arrogant in themselves and contemptuous of others. This way of thinking is so extraordinarily anti-God.
“I want to be like God” means “I want to love you in full reciprocity as we walk together in committed friendship as the Body of Christ.” Love is the bond of the Covenant. – Jesus is the Bond of the Covenant.
Love (Part II). I want to be like God, just as God commands me in the gospel. That means that I want to love my brethren in full reciprocity as we walk together in committed friendship as the Body of Christ. I receive my brothers and sisters as Jesus, even as they receive me as Jesus. I love them reciprocally just as God loves me reciprocally. I give favor to them, always expecting a full return of that favor. We share together our full devotion to God, even as God Himself is this Love in our midst.
Father Love. Father suffers long and is kind. Father is not envious; He is not boastful or puffed up. Father neither acts improperly, nor seeks His own, nor is easily provoked. Father keeps no account of wrongs; that is, God knows no evil. Father does not rejoice at injustice, but rejoices together with the truth. Father covers all for all; Father believes all for all; Father hopes all for all; Father carries all for all. Father never fails.
Since God alone is Love, it is perfectly appropriate to replace Paul’s agape with “Father.” Now, I develop the meaning of each phrase more completely in Mankind, Lesson 26.2 “Revealing God-Heart.”
Thrilled with Each Other. We show kindness to one another even while bearing with each other’s foolish offensiveness. We never take hurts personally – for each other’s sake. We are thrilled with each other’s success; we encourage and congratulate each other in meaningful ways. We act in ways fitting to one another and to godliness. We place each other’s interests as more important than our own.
We do not allow abusive hurt. We do not allow a place for bullying or disrespect. We require honesty of one another, even as we speak Christ into each other.
The Four Actions of Love. Paul lists four mighty actions of love that must undergird and fill every local Church and that are the essence of our rule forever – To Cover, to Believe for, to Hope for, to Carry.
To cover is to protect, including a protection from the one who is loving. To believe for is to place the giving of thanks into another person and to hope for is to place the expectation of God as every step. Then, to carry is to “remain under,” to carry the great weight and value of the other.
The essence of those four is – giving thanks and expecting God – for the sake of others.
Love (Part III). My brethren and I give all thanks and expect God for the sake of each other. We protect each other; we bear each other’s great weight of value. We show kindness to one another even while bearing with each other’s foolish offensiveness. We never take hurts personally – for each other’s sake. We are thrilled with each other’s success; we encourage each other. We place each other’s interests as more important than our own.
It Is So. You can see that the box titled “Love” is much too small, even though I had to squeeze to make it bigger. Yet I can see some very tangible things on this page that we can apply directly inside life together.
Love is very practical; love is very costly. This Love Jesus speaks into us requires each other. We cannot ever be the completion of Christ without each other inside the experience of this shared Love. Yet this Love is God alone, our Father sharing life with us individually and together. We acknowledge Him in all things; we call God-Love-among-us to be so.
Reading for Next Time. The next lesson is “My Brethren Love Me.” This is the hardest part of the Love of God, for if we cannot receive love, neither are we giving love. Read John 15 again. Here we are looking at the meaning of friendship. – We will wait until 1 John to expand on “set-forth soul.” You will see an introduction to the completion of “set-forth soul” in Chapter 26 “Our Rule Forever” in Symmorphy VI: Mankind.
No one has greater love than this, that he should set forth his soul for the sake of his friends. …You I have called beloved friends, for all that I have heard in the presence of My Father, I have made known to you.
Let’s Pray Together. Our prayer this time is metamorphy. We cannot Love except we are tucked into Jesus utterly and completely.
“Lord Jesus, we know that God our Father alone is Love. We know that during Your solitary life here, You never looked to any goodness in Yourself, but only Father with You. Lord Jesus, we ask that You would cause us to know the Love of God our Father as the only Love we share with one another.
“Lord Jesus, we ask that You would be a heart of commitment inside of us towards the gathering together of Your Church, that we would run with all joy into this Love the moment the door opens to us.
“Lord Jesus, we know that we cannot really know either You or the Father, except we know one another in this reciprocal Love You have spoken into us.
“Yet, Lord Jesus, we cannot “do” this love except You be our all-connection with the Father who alone is Love. Prepare our hearts with Yourself so that when our time in Christ Community comes we do not destroy love with our own selfishness. Press against us all around, Lord Jesus, hedge our way in with thorns, until You bring us through into Your garden, into this commitment of Love for one another. Do not leave us to wander in our own solitary path, but bring us into that place with each other You have made for us.”
Asking for Completion. From now on, I intend to add another slide to our prayer, an asking for some part of Completion, frequently the resurrection of our bodies, as Paul instructed us to do.
“Father, we know that the resurrection of our bodies, swallowed up entirely by life, is Your will for us. We know that our being sealed into incorruptibility fills Your desire and intentions towards us. We know that we are meant to share LIFE together.
“God our Father, in the name of Jesus and by His Word, we ask You to swallow up the death remaining in our physical bodies with Your resurrection life. We ask that You bring us into Your LIFE together. Father, we receive all that we ask.”