No one has love greater than that someone should surrender his life in behalf of his friends

Today we think especially of the son of men who, out of love for us, gave himself to death.

No one has love greater than this, that someone should surrender his life in behalf of his friends.​—John 15:13.

“The law of the Christ” is built on the best possible foundation​ — love. (Gal. 6:2) Jesus was motivated by love in everything he did. Pity, or tender compassion, is an expression of love. Moved by such pity, Jesus taught the crowds, healed the sick, fed the hungry, and raised the dead. (Matt. 14:14; 15:32-38; Mark 6:34; Luke 7:11-15)
Jesus willingly put the needs of others ahead of his own. Above all, he showed great love by surrendering his life in behalf of others.

We can imitate Jesus by putting the needs of others ahead of our own. We can also imitate him by cultivating tender compassion for people in our territory. When such compassion moves us to preach and teach the good news, we are obeying the law of the Christ.

w19.05 4 ¶8-10

Joining for a new year in the assurance to be bought with a price

Though we are already a few weeks in the new year and soon we will be looking at the new civil year we want to look at the older writing about those openings for a “New Year“.

As members of a New Covenant, installed by Jeshua, Jesus Christ, we should remember not only how difficult it must have been for the virgin Miriam (Mary) but also for the community of followers of the Nazarene.

Often we do think we can own the world and can do what we want. We do not like others to intervene in our life. We also find it difficult when we are directed by others. But when we have chosen to follow Christ we get reborn and we do have to start a new year of a new calendar for life.

Having started a new season we do want to ensure all that  the Spirit of God brings love, hope and freedom and that we do have the remembrance soon of the message Miriam (Mary) was to receive about a child given to the world, prophesied about to bring the world in a new system, preparing all those on earth to look forward for a coming Kingdom.

But the new hope given in that renewed world would belong to people who do know they do not belong to themselves but to the one God has provided. To him we should give ourselves and should come to accept him as our offer for our sins, making us worthy to be as a brother or sister of him, a child of God under salvation by the blood of Christ.

The message that came on earth and brought a change in the world, a new beginning, is what we shall remember the coming weeks, leading up to the remembrance that he was born and circumcised, taken up in the community of the Judaic people, the Jews.

Sculpture – head of Jesus Christ, the Cornerstone (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We now should become united under Christ, forming a heart of oak, funded in the cornerstone Jeshua, Jesus Christ our only lord and master on earth. Living in this world we do know we may not be of this world, but that does not mean we do have to be stateless. We should be of Christ, forming one strong community of brethren and sisters all wanting to do the Will of God like Jesus only wanted to do the Will of his Father. All wanting to follow and keeping to the Law of Christ: the Law of Love.

In these darker times of the year, the leaves falling down, our roots should bring forth new branches, to prop up those falling to pieces, the doubters and uncertain or indecisive. We do have to stand ready for those with questions, for those who are looking for God, for those who are not feeling so well and for those who have problems. We as brothers and sisters should let them feel they are welcome at our door.

Let us this year work to become more like Christ Jesus and help each other to grow in the lord, in the knowledge that they like we are bought with the same price. We may not wait any longer to give priority to form a loving brotherhood.

Ye are not your own. For ye are bought with a price:
therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
`1 Corinthians 6:19,20`

 

AT the opening of the new year, what lesson could be more important to us than this one, that we are not our own, but belong to another; that we are not therefore, to seek to please ourselves, but to please Him; nor to seek to serve self, but to serve Him; nor to seek to obey self-will, but on the contrary His will? This means holiness in the most absolute and comprehensive sense of the word (not only separation from sin to righteousness, but separation from “self” to the will of God in Christ).`Z.’97-35` `R2099:4`

 

All those who love God should come together regularly and as true believers should see themselves as parts of the body of Christ  holding “fast to the Head, from whom the whole body is nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, (and) grows with a growth that is from God” (Colossians 2:19).

Let us all be in union with each other, in union with Christ and in union with God:

John 15:4: 4 Remain in union with me, and I in union with YOU.+ Just as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it remains in the vine, in the same way neither can YOU, unless YOU remain in union with me.+

1 John 2:24: 24 As for YOU, let that which YOU have heard from [the] beginning remain in YOU.+ If that which YOU have heard from [the] beginning remains in YOU, YOU will also abide in union+ with the Son and in union with the Father.+

John 15:4: 4 Remain in union with me, and I in union with YOU.+ Just as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it remains in the vine, in the same way neither can YOU, unless YOU remain in union with me.+

John 6:56: 56 He that feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood remains in union with me,* and I in union with him.+

1 Corinthians 12:27:27 Now YOU are Christ’s body, and members individually.+

Colossians 2:19:19 whereas he is not holding fast to the head,+ to the one from whom all the body, being supplied and harmoniously joined together+ by means of its joints and ligaments, goes on growing with the growth that God gives.+

1 John 3:24: 24 Moreover, he who observes his commandments remains in union with him, and he in union with such one;+ and by this we gain the knowledge that he is remaining in union with us,+ owing to the spirit+ which he gave us.

John 14:23: 23 In answer Jesus said to him: “If anyone loves me, he will observe+ my word, and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him and make our abode with him.+

Are you making good progress in “holding fast to the head”? Are you being “nourished and knit together” with others as you do so? Don’t make the mistake of looking to blame others; all must pull together as fellows in the same ship – looking to Christ as the Captain.

+

Preceding article: You do not belong to yourselves,for you were bought with a price

Dutch texts about this subject / Nederlandse teksten over dit gegeven:

1. Ook behoort gij Uzelf niet toe, want gij werd met een prijs gekocht
2. Als broeders en zusters samen op weg voor een nieuw jaar

Please do find the verses in different versions:

You do not belong to yourselves,for you were bought with a price

Hebraic Roots Bible 1 Corinthians 6:15-20 – Flee fornication and be joined to our Master

Nazarene Commentary 1 Corinthians 6:15-20 – Flee from Immorality

+

Find out who are brothers in Christ or what a Brother in or of Christ should be:

1. Two new encyclopaedic articles
2. What are Brothers in Christ
3. Who are the Christadelphians
4. Rebirth and belonging to a church
5. Not many coming out with their community name
6. United people under Christ
7. Christadelphian people
8. Christadelphians
9. Christadelphians or Messianic Christians or Messianic Jews
10. My faith

+++

Related articles

• We Are Complete, Only In Him (pastorht.wordpress.com)
  Under the Old Covenant, men approached God through a priest, while under the New Covenant, we have direct access to the Father through Jesus Christ. Under the Old Covenant, a man’s sin led to his death while under the New Covenant, God is merciful to our unrighteousness. Under the Old Covenant, man could not be cleansed of a consciousness of sin while under the New Covenant, our sins and iniquities are remembered no more, and our guilty consciences are cleansed.
• DIG for Sunday the 26th of October…..there is only one gospel, there is no other…..Galatians 1 v 6 and 7 (heilanword.wordpress.com)
  The word gospel could be translated as good news, and the grace of Jesus Christ is indeed good news.Anything other than the grace of Jesus Christ is not good news and is therefore not the gospel.
• To an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, (activeinspiration.wordpress.com)
  According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead
• Christ In The Book Of Hebrews: “the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus” (settledinheaven.wordpress.com)
  Jesus came forth from the grave by the power of God.  It was the God who brought peace to all mankind through Christ’s death and resurrection!
• Jesus is Matchless (theencouragementexpress.com)
  One could find many illustrations to prove that often personality is greater than the idea. Such is the case with Christianity. The secret of the power of Christianity is not in its ethics. It is not in Christian ideas or philosophy, although Christianity has a philosophical set of ideas. The secret of Christianity is found in a Person, and that Person is the Lord Jesus Christ.
• “Holiness is the balance between my nature and the law of God as expressed in Jesus Christ.” ~~Oswald Chambers (quotesthoughtsrandom.wordpress.com)
  God’s goal for us is that we be holy, just like God is holy. God has given us the power of His Holy Spirit to make it happen.
• Tuesday, 4 November 2014 : 31st Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Charles Borromeo, Bishop (First Reading) (petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com)
  He humbled Himself by being obedient to death, death on the cross. That is why God exalted Him and gave Him the Name which outshines all names, so that at the Name of Jesus all knees should bend in heaven, on earth and among the dead, and all tongues proclaim that, Christ Jesus is the Lord to the glory of God the Father.
• Today’s Bible Reading (ephesians 1:1, 3-10) (prayers4reparation.wordpress.com)
  As he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and unspotted in his sight in charity.Who hath predestinated us unto the adoption of children through Jesus Christ unto himself: according to the purpose of his will:
• People Are Watching (revderrickkeeter.wordpress.com)
  As he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and unspotted in his sight in charity.Who hath predestinated us unto the adoption of children through Jesus Christ unto himself: according to the purpose of his will:
• Christology: twelve grammatical rules (pjcockrell.wordpress.com)
  Not to speak of Christ in any way that sidelines his human experience.Jesus Christ is truly human.
  +
  Not to speak of Christ as if he were relevant only to some people in some cultures and circumstances. Jesus Christ is present to all people, in all times and places, as their divine-human Prophet, Priest and King. The church trusts and proclaims, but never possesses, this Messiah.

Glory of God appearing in our character

The Face of Moses and Law on Tablets of stone

When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the Law on stone tablets, his face shone. (Exodus 34)  The apostle refers to that in his letter to the Corinthians.

“Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was,” (2 Corinthians 3:7 NIV)

Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound (Romans 5:20) and we had condemnation but Jesus spread the Good News and brought the ministry of righteousness and therefore exceeds in glory. [Galatians 3:10] Believing in the death of Christ accepting that this dead man was taken out of the gave by his Father, we have the epistle of Christ, ministered by the apostles, not having been written with ink, but with the spirit of the living God, the Father of Christ Jesus [2 Corinthians 3:3 ] but also our Father to whom we can come up thanks to Jesus his offering and his will to communicate in our name with his Father. Jehovah God allowed Jesus to mediate on our behalf.

With the death of Christ Jehovah accepted Jeshua’s offering and that old system of law etched in stone was led to death. Today we should not have our ‘law of God‘ on tablets of stone, but in fleshly tablets of our heart. Like Moses his face shone with the glory of God so also did Jesus his face shone with even more glory.

Flames in heart and soul

After Jesus had gone away from this earth, taken up in the sky by his Father, God gave the disciples of Jesus His Power, the Holy Spirit, who came down on them in the room where they had hid themselves, afraid for the persecutors of the followers of Jesus. By receiving the Holy Spirit those men got the glory from God to speak in Jesus his name but also to speak in God His name. Before the Holy Spirit came over them they where like buried in that room. They had died in the fear for men who were against Jesus Christ.

Are you afraid for those who do not like it that you speak with admiration for Jesus? Are you afraid to show your reverence for the son of God, daring to tell the world that it was a man of flesh and blood who was willing to give his life because he believed in the Creator of heaven and earth in which you believe too? In admiration for Christ Jesus we should go out into the world and spread the Gospel of liberation brought by a man who proofed he could be faithful to the One and Only God.

The apostles got the Holy Spirit over them, but we when we became baptised also got the Power of God in us. We should feel that force, and it should give us also the power it gave those first Christians to tell others the Truth. Shouldn’t we expect also far greater glory when the Holy Spirit is giving life to us? If the old or first covenant, which brings condemnation, was glorious, how much more glorious is the new covenant, which makes us right with God! We believe in that sanctification by the blood of Christ. God is a Spirit who has no flesh and no blood and can not be seen by man, but Jesus was a real human being who shared lots of his time with the underdogs of the community who could see and touch him. He was not afraid to be considered part of the mad ones or the ones to be avoided. The oppressed and poor listened to his voice which brought a message of love and peace, telling them about a better world where we can be part of it.

Showing divine character

In everything Jesus did he showed a divine character. He showed the love of his Father. He showed others how his father was prepared to take them all up in His Kingdom when they where willing to follow the words of Christ and changing their character as well. We too have to work at our character and blend it in with the Law of Christ and with the Law of God.

We know now that that first glory by Moses was not glorious at all compared with the overwhelming glory of the new covenant. So if the old covenant, which has been set aside, was full of glory, then the new covenant, which remains forever, has far greater glory.

“7 If, however, the administration of death, written with letters and engraved on stones, began in glory, so that the children of Israel could not gaze steadily on the face of Moses, because of the glory of his face–a glory even then fading– 8 how much more shall the ministry of the Spirit abide in glory? 9 For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, far more is the ministry of righteousness radiant in glory. 10 Indeed that which once was glorious has lost its glory, because of the glory which surpasses it. 11 For if that which was fading came in glory, far more will that which ever abides be glorious.” (2 Corinthians 3:7-11 MONTNT)

It’s because in the presentation of Jesus as an ransom offering for all, the wisdom, love, justice, mercy, goodness, and the faithfulness of God are displayed in all that God has done. He displays His glory in the ‘Cross’.

Becoming part of the Forgiven much

When we accept the death of Christ as a peace offering we also may be part of the people called ‘the forgiven much’.  In that understanding we should also be willing to take on the armour of Christ and be willing to become like him. It shall demand of us to work on our attitude and to rebuild our character. We shall to be prepared to learn from the Word of God and intensify our Bible Study. When we understand that, we will love much and will serve much, and worship much, and adore Him, out of a heart of devotion and not just do it because we’re Christians’ and we’re meant to do that kind of thing.

In the resurrection  of Christ Jesus we can see the acceptance of God and we can find that kind of hope to excite us. When we listen carefully to all those prophesies in the Old Testament and compare them with the writings of the New Testament, we can come to the understanding that those books complement each other and can give us all reason for nothing to hold us back.  In the glory of the dead Christ taken up into the realm of God we are giving the hope of the resurrection and should  have nothing to hide any more. Everything can come out in the open with us.

“12  Therefore, cherishing such a hope, I use great freedom of speech. 13 I do not do as Moses did, who used to cover his face with a veil to keep the children of Israel from beholding the passing of a fading glory.” (2 Corinthians 3:12-13 MONTNT)

Being transformed

The apostles were “being transformed” into the likeness “with ever-increasing glory.”  Even more than that, back in the days of Moses it was an outward and a physical reflection, whereas this glory the Holy Spirit creates in us is an inward spiritual transformation. At the time of of Jesus’ Transfiguration the disciples looked on with utter amazement at what was happening to Jesus. Peter really didn’t know what to say other than to want to stay there. The glory of God was shining right through him. It defied description. God has a transfiguration to accomplish in us so that we are changed into the same image. All creatures are made in the image of God, but they have to shine by becoming part of God His World and not by being part of the unbelieving world.

Even today when the proclamations of that old, bankrupt government are read out, humans can’t see through it. Only Christ can get rid of the veil so they can see for themselves that there’s nothing there.  Whenever, though, they turn to face God as Moses did, God removes the veil and there they are — face to face! It is up to us to recognize that God is a living, personal presence, not a piece of chiselled stone.  All those illustrations, crosses with a Jesus on it, sculptures presenting holy figures or even presenting God, are an abomination to the Most High and going in against His Commandments not to make any statue to worship in front.

Radiant with the very glory of God

We should not need any figures or images to bring us an idea of a Godhead or to show us the Glory of God. The Glory of God should shine in our heart. It is that glory which should get our heart beating even faster, bringing it ‘on fire’.  Our character should be made by the feeling of the presence of God. Yes He is personally present, a living Spirit. This Eternal God should bring new life in us bringing awareness in us that, that old, constricting legislation is recognized as obsolete. We’re free of it!  All of us! By the blood of Christ everything became whitewashed and all the borders and fences between us and God were taken away. This liberation should make our faces shining with the brightness of Jesus his face. And so we should also become transfigured much like the Messiah.

From our baptism onwards, we should enter into a new word of grace and glory in which our lives gradually will becoming brighter and more beautiful as Jesus enters our lives and we become like him.

 “15 Yes, to this very day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies on their hearts; 16 but when their heart turns to our Lord the veil is stripped away. 17 (The Lord means the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord abides there is freedom.) 18 And we all, with unveiled faces, reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are ourselves continually being transformed into the same likeness, from glory to glory, as by the Lord, the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:15-18 MONTNT)

It’s the sole prerogative of God the Holy Spirit to transform our characters that they might be radiant with the very glory of God. The Holy Spirit shall work from the inside out to change us into the image of the Lord Jesus, so that he may be glorified through us.  The Spirit of the living God has all the power to renew us and to make us ‘anew’.  We do a real injustice to God’s greatness and majesty when we limit His power, and the possibilities of His power, in our own minds. One of the great things about being in Christian ministry is seeing God’s power by the Holy Spirit taking broken and spoiled people and making them into new people. It’s fantastic to see how God etches into their lives something of the glory and beauty of Jesus. This is what gives us the strength to go on.

When the glory of God begins to appear through a person, it shall make that person more human, not less human. There’s a fire in the glory of God that not only burns but also warms and draws people into God’s love. And it’s this way that people are set free to be truly human and truly natural. We can never be all that we’re meant to be until God’s spirit begins his work in us.

It is by sharing the glory of Christ, wanting to have a shining face, expressing the love for God, love for the Word of God and the love for the whole creation that we can build up a community of people wanting to follow the master teacher Jesus, and as such becoming true Christians.

+

Preceding article: In the death of Christ, the son of God, is glorification

++

Read also:

1. Greatest single cause of atheism
   The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is
   christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips
   and walk out the door and deny Him by their lifestyle.
   That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.
   
2. Without God no purpose, no goal, no hope
3. How do trinitarians equate divine nature
4. Creator and Blogger God 2 Image and likeness
5. The Law of Christ: Law of Love
6. Ransom for all
7. Golden rule for understanding in spiritual matters obedience
8. A learning process for each of us
9. Faith a commitment to the promises of Christ and to to the demands of Christ
10. A Living Faith #9 Our Manner of Life
11. We have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace
12. How we think shows through in how we act
13. Followers with deepening
14. Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience
15. Raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair
16. Abhor evil. Adhere to goodness
17. Our attitude at a difficult task
18. Spread love everywhere you go
19. Ask Grace to go forward
20. In the death of Christ, the son of God, is glorification
21. We all are changed into the same image from glory to glory
22. Life in gratitude opens glory of God
23. Invitation to all who believe

+++

Related articles

• Easter 6 – “The Church” (Revelation 21:9-14, 21-27) (revtucher.com)
  You and I have been made a part of the Church through the work of the Holy Spirit. We are brought in through faith and made clean by the blood of the Lamb. We share in the life of Christ and His glory. Notice what John says here: it is the glory of God. He doesn’t say that it is the glory of the people. There is a reason for that: the people of the Church are sinful. It is by Christ’s life, death, and resurrection that the Church reflects the glory of God because we have been clothed with Christ’s righteousness. In other words, it’s not by our doing but by Christ’s doing. That is the way it should be and the way that it has to be.
• Past, Present and Future of Salvation, Today’s Study of Romans 5 (whatshotn.wordpress.com)
  we boast in the hope of the glory of God. We enter grace, or forgiveness, by faith in what Christ did. And when Paul says that we stand in grace, he implies that this is a state in which we can remain. Because of God’s grace, based on what Christ did in the past, we rejoice in the hope that this gives us for the future the hope of sharing in the glory of God. This hope is not just a “wishful thought”.. it is confidence based on what God has done for us…
• May 1: Does Your Life Bring Glory to God? (evcthoughtoftheday.com)
  Paul is telling the church at Philippi that their life should be filled with the fruit – the good works, the character, and the attitudes produced by Christ as a result of their salvation – such that their lives become a billboard for God that causes people to give glory to Him.
• Father’s Glory (wrob77.wordpress.com)
  The Greek word for glory is Doxa, where we get our word doxology, and it has all the meaning of Kabod but includes a greater sense of perfection and display of power.
• God’s Passion for His Glory (pjcockrell.wordpress.com)
  Isaiah 43:6-7: God says, “bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”
• Rite of Confirmation – “Public Confession” (John 16:12-22) (revtucher.com)
  The Holy Spirit comes to glorify Jesus by introducing Him to people as the crucified and risen Christ. That is what He comes to do for the disciples and that is what He comes to do for us. The Holy Spirit comes to introduce us to what the truth is about: Jesus. The disciples weren’t prepared for all Jesus has to say, as He tells them, for they were too worked up over Jesus’ impending departure. But He wasn’t going to leave them empty-handed. He leaves them the Holy Spirit who will testify of Him and what He has done.
• Love. Chapter One. (rebellredarts.com)
  Everything is for the glorification of God. Everthing that  we do here on this earth has a purpose. The purpose is the glorification of God. Our work is his work.  Eternal life is knowing God , says Jesus Christ. Jesus tells his Dad that he gave glory to him by finishing the work that he gave him to do. God gives us all work while we are to accomplish, to finish. one day we will all  get to experience this awesome day.