FAITH-FILLED WORDS

WBS.310

FAITH-FILLED WORDS

Hebrews 11:6  But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to IAUE must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Let me begin by saying I had no intention, today, of writing a post to this blog; but I was so strongly impressed by the Holy Spirit to share this message, today, that I could not refuse.  Please read this post to the end before drawing any conclusions.

Not long ago, I lost several life-long friendships over the matter of “faith.”  These friends were all members and/or ministerial staff of a church in a nearby city.  A couple of years ago, one of these friends (with whom I had had very little contact in years) out of the blue, as-it-were, emailed me a video and asked me for my opinion of it. The video was of a preacher examining the ministry of another preacher.  After having admitted he had not even listened to the entire presentation of the man’s message, he began raking him over the coals declaring him to be false teacher presenting blasphemous errors.  Well, I had viewed scores of hours of this man’s teaching, including the message in question, and I had the benefit of knowing the context of the things that were said; and there was no blasphemy, no error, just good faith-filled exposition of the Scriptures.  When I replied to my friend who had asked my opinion of the video, I simply said, “He has no business opening his mouth. He doesn’t have a clue what he is talking about. He even admitted to not even hearing the entire message that he was so confidently tearing apart.”

That reply earned me an undeserved identification with the “name it, claim it” preachers that my friends apparently had determined were false teachers and dangerous to the gospel; who, just for the record, we had all cut our teeth on over 40 years ago; but had long since moved on from there.  Without so much as a question about what I actually believe, now, I was cut off and relegated to the ranks of the hopelessly deceived. I have not heard from any of them, since.

Now, I could use this story to spring board into a discussion of the love of the brethren and what that’s supposed to look like, or of church discipline, or of forgiveness and reconciliation; but I will leave those to another day.  What I want communicate, today, regards the truth about faith.

The Scripture provides what virtually everyone believes to be its own definition of faith:

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

So many preachers use this text to preach all manner of things about faith: what it is, what it isn’t, how it works, how you can work it, how to think about it, how to exercise it; and (with the “name it, claim it” people) how to get what you want with it.  The problem is, the Scriptures were not written with chapters and verses. This verse is always taken out of context; and in context, it isn’t really a definition of faith at all; but rather an explanation of our reason to hold fast to our confidence in the hope of the gospel which is the resurrection  of the righteous and the appearing of our King, the Master Yahushua Messiah, in glory and power.  Much of the letter written to the Hebrews is supportive of this need to maintain our confidence to the end, hold to the expectation of our faith without wavering, know that our hope is sure and that what Messiah began, he will finish unto the end.  This is the context of Hebrews 11:1. 

The following record of what is often called the Faith Heroes Hall of Fame, is not about people who used faith to work miracles or obtain glistening new gold-gilded chariots or better paying jobs. It is about people who believed what Elohim promised them even unto death.

Hebrews 11:13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

39 And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:

They all died having Hebrews 11:1 faith, NOT HAVING RECEIVED the manifestation of the expectation of their faith.  They will eventually receive the reward; but the kind of faith that earned them a place in this chapter is one simple thing.  They believed IAUE; and they held on to that belief even in the face of death.

Hebrews 11:6  But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to IAUE must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

If you have followed this blog, you understand that we have laid out a detailed explanation that we are a created people; and our Creator made us with a designed function.  For us to be fulfilled in life, we must identify and satisfy that design function; which, simply put, is to please IAUE by doing His will.  In this verse, we have what could be called a basic “entrance exam” to fulfilling our design function.  If we pass this exam, we may begin to do our Father’s will.  We MUST have faith.  We must believe IAUE is. Secondly, we must be confident in the reward He promises. Without these it is impossible to please Him

Let’s look at this in human terms.  If, when growing up as a child, we constantly let our father know either by words or actions or inactions, that we did not believe what he told us, how pleased with us do you think our fathers would be?  Also, if we did not believe him, there would be little likelihood that we would do what he asked or expected of us. Voluntary obedience to our father’s will would be predicated upon our trust in him, which would necessarily be based upon our ability to believe in him. Now let’s elevate this to our relationship with IAUE Elohim. If we do not believe IAUE’s word to us is trustworthy, why would we bother to commit our every action and decision in life to His will for us?  It wouldn’t happen.

The entrance exam, however, is very simple; and all of the people listed in Hebrews 11 passed the exam even though they did not received the fulfillment of the promise. One might reflect on this and say they were all fools.  They should have just gotten on with their lives and sought to achieve success in their selfish endeavors. Their names, however, would never be found in Hebrews 11.  I don’t know about you, but I can think of no greater honor than to live my life in such a way before IAUE that it would receive His personal recognition.

This brings us back to faith.  Faith is simple belief in IAUE and in the trustworthiness of His words. Such simple belief causes us to live and to behave accordingly.  For example, IAUE told Abraham that he would be the father of many nations. Later he assured him this would come about through his son Isaac.  Then IAUE asked Abraham to offer Isaac as a sacrifice.  Abraham did not hesitate to proceed to do as IAUE requested.  To Abraham, killing Isaac before he had children (which would be necessary for Abraham to be the father of many nations) was more IAUE’s problem than his own. 

Hebrews 11:17 By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son,18 Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called:19 Accounting that Elohim was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.

If we perceive of faith as a force that we release in prayer or in commands (as is taught by most faith preachers) then we will become focused on “our“ faith as something that is either big enough or too small to accomplish an objective rather than having confidence in IAUE that His word is trustworthy. This will absolutely become a factor when we are asked to pray for something that seems either impossible to us, or is just currently too large a task for “our” faith. Where, in that consideration is belief that what IAUE has said is true and reliable?  What is the difference in commanding a headache to leave and commanding cancer to leave?  Are we able to make a cancer leave by our own power? If not, then we are also incapable of making a headache leave by our own power.  Thus, the only difference between the two has nothing to do with how big our faith is; but whether or not we believe IAUE.

I realize I am covering huge concepts in a single paragraph; but you can always re-read and meditate on what has been said, and listen to the Holy Spirit about it.

This brings us, finally, to faith-filled words. When I was a child, my father would drop me and my siblings off at the local swimming pool and before leaving he would say, “I will be back to pick you up at 5:00 PM.  Be ready and waiting for me, right here.”  My brothers and sister and I would proceed to have the time of our life enjoying the pool and our friends for hours.  Not once did we ever say to each other, “We probably should see if one of our friend’s parents can give us a ride home.” We never said, “Dad is sure to be late. There is no telling how long we will be standing outside waiting.  We should just keep on swimming until he gets here.”  No, we believed our dad. We were always ready outside the pool at 5:00 PM; and he was always there.

Our words to each other and to our friends, or to anyone else for that matter, were never inconsistent with what our dad told us to expect. Why?  It is because we believed dad’s words; and we acted and we spoke accordingly.  Now, was our belief or our words the force that caused our dad to show up at 5:00 PM?  Of course not!  It would be absurd to think that.  I can tell you, though, that our belief in his words which resulted in our corresponding actions to be out of the pool, dressed and waiting at 5:00 PM, very much pleased our dad. 

This is exactly how our words should be.  They aren’t vehicles through which power is released in order to make things happen. They are a consistent testimony of what we believe about our Father and what He has said; and with that belief, our corresponding actions are able to please Him.  So, when we speak of faith-filled words, we are just speaking words that convey that we believe IAUE. 

If we have doubt, and we speak our doubt, it is impossible to believe IAUE; and our words actually testify against us that we do not believe our Father.  Intellectually, we may know and have settled it academically that IAUE’s words are Truth and can be trusted; but it takes renewing the mind to overcome programming to the contrary. It is far better to doubt our doubts, than to doubt the word of IAUE.  Instead of giving voice to our doubts we should recognize the offense to IAUE that doubt represents and recite whatever IAUE has said regarding the matter until doubt is replaced by belief.  This isn’t a mind game (like what is often taught by faith preachers) unless you really do not believe that IAUE is and is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.  Perhaps what is needed is to diligently seek Him; because once you really know Him, you cannot doubt His words.

JOY - Part 2

WBS.309

JOY – Part 2

Psalm 119:73 Thy hands have made me and fashioned me: give me understanding, that I may learn thy commandments.

Our obedience must come from elation...elation with IAUE.  Our obedience results in over-the-top blessings that demonstrate the goodness of our Elohim.  His nature is revealed to us when we fulfill our creative design of doing His will. It reinforces the truth that doing His will is our purpose in life; and that indisputable evidence brings us tremendous abounding joy.  

* * * *

It may seem a rather obscure approach to discuss joy in the life of a disciple; but the church has not looked at this subject from a correct viewpoint.  For starters, the church has been deceived into connecting joy with happiness.  We are happy when things go our way, or when we get what we want irrespective of the Father’s will for us.  Happiness is always conditional and it does not last.  For example, grandparents are happy when their children and grandchildren visit; but that happiness begins to dissipate the moment they get in their car and drive away; and it can even turn to sadness when they think of how long it might be before they will see them again.  Of course, if we are brave enough to call it what it is, we would understand it is, ultimately, just selfishness. They got what they wanted and they were happy.  They lost what they wanted and they were no longer happy.  It was all about them.  This holds true frequently with happiness unless it is connected with a higher level of satisfaction than our own.

Joy, on the other hand, is always associated with IAUE or Yahushua…ALWAYS.  For example, in his old age, the Apostle John was focused primarily on one thing.

2 John 1:4  I rejoiced greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth, as we have received a commandment from the Father.

3 John 1:3  For I rejoiced greatly, when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth.

4  I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.

John’s joy was that the disciples were walking in the Spirit, fulfilling their obedience to IAUE.  Nothing on earth could have delighted him more.

In our last post we observed that IAUE expected His people to obey Him with joy; not just out of law; but because they wanted to do His will as their chiefest joy. 

Psalm 119:73  Thy hands have made me and fashioned me: give me understanding, that I may learn thy commandments.

David understood it.  He understood that IAUE had made him.  He designed him.  He fashioned him.  He breathed life into him. It simply was not possible that he might not live for Him.  David was earnestly devoted to understanding the purest way to live for IAUE?  Without Him, David had no life, no existence. Living before IAUE with joy as his purest motivation was what defined David; and why IAUE called him “a man after my own heart.”

I have long called it, “the problem of the invisible God.”  Because IAUE is not perceived with our physical senses, we gravitate into a world of self-awareness; and we live our lives relatively unconscious of, or unaware of the fact that we are creatures (This is aided by recognizing that man is at the top of the food chain…hence the most important life form on earth). However, we are created; and we have a Creator.  Once we truly understand that we have a Creator we must acknowledge two things:

1.  We would not exist were it not for Him.

2.  He must have created us with a purpose in mind…a designed function.

One day the Pharisees and the Sadducees joined forces (a rare thing) to ask questions to trap Yahushua in his words; but seeing he had answered them well, a scribe asked him, “What is the first commandment of all?”

Mark 12:29 And Yahushua answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; IAUE our Elohim is one Master:

30 And thou shalt love IAUE thy Elohim with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.

31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.

Yahushua was quoting Moses from Deuteronomy 6:5. Anyone who has been a disciple for a few years has heard this read and quoted and preached many times; but I believe its true essence has not been presented. It MUST be connected with the fact that He is the creator and we are His creation.  Only then can we understand the motive for loving and obeying IAUE with all our being.  Apart from IAUE, we may find happiness that comes and goes.  Happiness appeals to our heart and mind; but not our spirit.  Joy appeals to our spirit; and when we find it, it is permanent; and it permeates every aspect of our life for the rest of our life. This results in IAUE being able to pour out His blessings upon us in such a way that His nature is revealed to us and is reproduced in us (See 2 Peter 1:2-4).

In our last post we saw that devastation had come to the Hebrews because they had lost joy in serving IAUE.  The prophet Joel provided a remedy.

Joel 1:14 Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of IAUE thy Elohim, and cry unto IAUE,

This remedy was expanded in the next chapter.

Joel 2:12 Therefore also now, saith IAUE, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning:

Fasting is to bring the body in line…to exercise dominion over our flesh and its lusts.

Weeping is to bring the soul in line…to experience remorse over our disobedience and loss of perspective over who we are and who HE is.

Mourning is to bring our spirit in line…to grieve our abject failure as the creation of IAUE to adore Him as our loving Father.

When we are purged of the control of our flesh, the disobedience of our souls and the wrong attitudes and waywardness of our spirit, we enter into a pure understanding (as opposed to an academic understanding) of what it is to love IAUE with the totality of our being: with all our heart and soul and mind and strength.

Romans 14:17  For the kingdom of Elohim is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.

JOY – Part 1

 WBS.308

JOY – Part 1

Deureronomy 28:45 Moreover all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue thee, and overtake thee, till thou be destroyed; because thou hearkenedst not unto the voice of IAUE thy Elohim, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded thee:

46 And they shall be upon thee for a sign and for a wonder, and upon thy seed for ever.

47 Because thou servedst not IAUE thy Elohim with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things;

48 Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which IAUE shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee.

In Deuteronomy 28, Moses recounts to the children of Israel the blessings and the curses of the covenant as they were preparing to enter and to take possession of the promised land.  Verses 1-13 were the enumerated blessings; while verses 14-68 contained the curses. (This is not to be confused with the covenant IAUE cut with Abraham.  It is the covenant IAUE made with the Hebrews when He brought them out of Egypt with a mighty arm.)  It took four times as many verses to recite the curses than the blessings.  The curses were contingent upon the Hebrews failing two conditions. One of these conditions, we all pretty much know.  It was to heed the voice of IAUE to obey His commandments and statutes.  This decree is repeated over and over again throughout the Tanak (Old Testament Scriptures).

The second condition is quite surprising.

Deuteronomy 28:47 Because thou servedst not IAUE thy Elohim with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things;

This passage of Scripture explains so much.  It is not enough for us just to obey IAUE’s commandments.  Our obedience must proceed from the right motive.  It should not stem from an intelligent choice to do so.  It should not originate in our ethnic or religious culture.  It must come from joy rooted in gladness of heart.  Our obedience must come from elation...elation with IAUE.  Our obedience results in over-the-top blessings that demonstrate the goodness of our Elohim.  His nature is revealed to us when we fulfill our creative design of doing His will. It reinforces the truth that doing His will is our purpose in life; and that indisputable evidence brings us tremendous abounding joy.  

It is quite interesting to note that this verse is the first time that any form of the word “joy” is found in Scripture; and it is connected with our motive for obeying the voice of our Creator.

In I Samuel 4, in the days of the judges, the Philistines made war against Israel and captured the Ark of the Covenant. They held it for seven months before they sent it back by a cart pulled by two milk cows to the city of Bethshemesh, beyond the border of Philistia.  From there the ark was quickly taken to Kirjathjearim where it remained for 20 years. King Saul reigned for 40 years and died. When David was made king, he decided it was long overdue for the ark to be returned to Jerusalem.  On his way from Kirjathjearim to Jerusalem, there  was an incident where the cart toppled and the ark was about to fall, so a man named Uzza reached out to steady the Ark and was struck dead.  The ark was left at the home of Obededom for three month (1 Chronicles 13 before David decided to complete the transport of the ark to Jerusalem.

1 Chronicles 15:16 And David spake to the chief of the Levites to appoint their brethren to be the singers with instruments of musick, psalteries and harps and cymbals, sounding, by lifting up the voice with joy.

David prepared the hearts of the people to obey the commandment of IAUE that the Ark reside in Jerusalem, by restoring the correct motivation:  Joy.

1 Chronicles 15:25  So David, and the elders of Israel, and the captains over thousands, went to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the house of Obededom with joy.

When they entered the city with the tumult of all of the instruments and singers, David danced in the streets before IAUE with joy.

1 Chronicles 15:29   And it came to pass, as the ark of the covenant of IAUE came to the city of David, that Michal, the daughter of Saul looking out at a window saw king David dancing and playing: and she despised him in her heart.

This is the world’s reaction to joy; and all too often the church’s reaction to it as well. Such liberty of heart expressing unrestrained gladness to IAUE is embarrassing to those without such freedom. It convicts them of their sin (remember, joy is the commanded condition of obedience to IAUE). 

Let’s look at another tell-tale example in the Scripture.

Joel 1:12  The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from the sons of men.

13 Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests: howl, ye ministers of the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for the meat offering and the drink offering is withholden from the house of your God.

14 Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of IAUE thy Elohim, and cry unto IAUE,

15 Alas for the day! for the day of IAUE is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.

16 Is not the meat cut off before our eyes, yea, joy and gladness from the house of our Elohim?

Conditions were horrible.  The depth of the destruction was likened to what was believed about “the day of IAUE,” the day IAUE would judge the unrighteous of the world; and it was all rooted in the fact that the Hebrews had lost their joy in serving Elohim.  Since the meat offering and the drink offering were withheld (freewill sacrifices expressing the joyous gratitude of the hearts of the people), IAUE destroyed the harvest so there wasn’t even the ability to offer those sacrifices.  The key to the restoration of their land was to find their lost joy.

Think about it.

 

More in the next post.

THE UNFEIGNED LOVE OF THE BRETHREN

WBS.307

THE UNFEIGNED LOVE OF THE BRETHREN

 1 Peter 1:22  Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:..

* * * * *

Today, I want to discuss a litmus test of genuine discipleship.  There are many evidences of genuine discipleship to the Master; but in the current religious culture of the church, so few of these are seen in the lives of believers because substitutes have been offered in their place; and being, for the most part, still very worldly, modern Christians do not recognize the swap.

We see recognition and approval being given to believers today for their regular Sunday church attendance, for their financial contributions, for their attendance at mid-week services, etc., all things associated with the perpetuation and success of the business of the “local” church; and none of these should be associated as evidences of genuine discipleship. 

There is little notice of how contemporary believers live their lives from Monday to Saturday. Such things as underhanded business practices, self-promotion, devotion to personal financial success, lying, gossiping, cheating, hating, bitterness, unforgiveness and living secret lives in sinful practices all go unnoticed, and are rarely addressed from the pulpit.  This is an accurate description of contemporary Christianity; and it appears there are few among us that even care.  It reminds me of what Paul said to Titus.

Titus 1:12 One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, the Cretians are alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies.

13 This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith;

14 Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth.

Titus was not being instructed to rebuke the prophets; but rather, the people of whom the prophets accurately prophesied. Such behavior demonstrates a turning from the truth.  The Truth should be marking our lives that we are quite different from the world.

True discipleship to the Master Yahushua Messiah is not simply a commitment to Bible study to learn whatever you can from the Scriptures.  If you pause to reflect on the first century believers; they did not have Bibles.  The synagogues from city to city had various scrolls.  Hopefully they possessed a Torah (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy); and maybe some of the history books and some of the prophets; but such scrolls were extremely expensive and took years to write a single copy. (This is very likely a reason why the early disciples still attended synagogue.  It is where they could hear the Scriptures being read; and if they were literate, possibly to have access to read the scrolls.  They were not like books that could be checked out from a library and brought back in two weeks. They didn’t leave the synagogue.)

We have all known many believers who devoted themselves to the study of the Scripture; and many, if not most, still lived lives that could not be described as “holy.” I remember one particular “scholar” who fancied himself an expert in Greek and Hebrew, and who wrote many books and had a significant following of believers; but this man would literally curse using the contemporary profanity from the pulpit at people if he caught them whispering to themselves instead of giving him their full attention. No, just studying the Scriptures is not an evidence of genuine discipleship; nor does it necessarily produce any fruit of the Holy Spirit.

1 Timothy 1:5  Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:

The end, the objective, of the commandment is LOVE OUT OF A PURE HEART, a GOOD CONSCIENCE, and FAITH THAT IS NOT FAKED.  Such things are the real evidence of genuine discipleship.  I want to discuss the first one: love out of a pure heart.

The Master’s final discourse with his apostles spoke of this.

John 13:34  A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

I ask you.  Do all men know that you are a disciple of the Master Yahushua Messiah?  If we loved our brothers and sisters in Messiah as HE loves them, they would. Notice that this is not the suggestion of Messiah.  It is a brand new commandment.  In a sense, we could call this the 11^th Commandment.  I know that in Messiah we are not under the Law; but Paul explained to us in Galatians 5 that if we walked in the Spirit, our lives would be such that there would be no law against it.  That means if we walked in the Spirit, we would naturally be loving our brothers and sisters in Messiah the way Yahushua loves them.

We can use the Master’s own words to provide us the litmus test of genuine discipleship; because he is the one who said that loving the brethren was the true mark of discipleship.  He went on a couple of chapters later to explain that we cannot love like he does; but if we abide in him, then his life will be lived through us and our lives will bear the fruit of genuine discipleship.

The apostle John was sitting there with Messiah as he taught these things.  John was so overwhelmed by Yahushua’s love for him that in his gospel he identified himself as the disciple whom Yahushua loved. John took to heart this message of abiding in Messiah; of walking in the light, of loving the brethren.  It permeates his epistles.

1 John 2:10  He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.

11 But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.

To John, loving the brethren was the litmus test that we were abiding in Messiah.  If we do not love our brothers in Messiah, then we are still in darkness.  The nature of the vine has yet to permeate our branch. See how John also says that the person who does not love his brother is walking in darkness and does not even know where he goes.  He cannot truly be led by the Holy Spirit because the unloving nature of his own heart is interfering with the voice of the Holy Spirit.

1 John 3:14 We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.

Many Christians mentally discount John’s words in this letter because they KNOW they are born again believers, so John had to be wrong about this.  I suspect the truth is more that when we were born again, that forgiving love and merciful acceptance of the Body was very present with us; but over time we melded with the general operation of the local church; and if anything can expunge the love of the brethren, that surely is it.  It is today, like it was when James wrote to the Hebrew disciples of his day. There was no doubting that they were followers of Messiah; but having been dispersed from Jerusalem due to the persecution by Saul/Paul; many of the cities into which they fled left their numbers without leadership; so they began vying for recognition as wise teachers. Their egos undermined their love of the brethren; and they began to battle each other for position in some hierarchy which we would see today as a spiritual ladder climb. Remember the message of John to the disciples in Ephesus in the book of Revelation?  The one complaint that our Master had with them was that they had left their first love.  Love can wane from us as we allow flesh to ascend into prominence in our lives.  James tells us in chapter 4 of his letter that both the flesh and the Holy Spirit yearn for the mastery of our lives.  One takes it by any way it can; and one, the Holy Spirit, takes it only when it is yielded to Him.

1 John 3:15 Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.

John no doubt learned this directly from Messiah as he taught this on the sermon on the mount; and it was likely a consistent message everywhere Messiah went.

Matthew 5:21 Ye have heard that it was said of them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:

22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.

John provides for us the nature of the love of the brethren that the Master expects to see in us;

16 Hereby perceive we the love of IAUE, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

17 But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of IAUE in him?

18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.

In the early day of the church, the Scripture says that no man regarded his own possessions as his own; but that each person sought the equality of care of every single disciple of Messiah.

Acts 4:32  And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.

1 John 4:20  If a man say, I love IAUE, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love IAUE whom he hath not seen?

21 And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth IAUE love his brother also.

It is the unrenewed mind that regards the advancement of self to be important that shuts down the love of the brethren.  

Philippians 2:1  If there be therefore any consolation in Messiah, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies,

2 Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.

3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.

4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.

We are to esteem others better than ourselves. This is not a call to a condescending act on our part; but a literal esteeming the worth of our fellow brothers and sisters as greater than our own worth. If we did that we would naturally admire them and our love for them would be quite natural.

Our opening passage of Scripture by Peter says it all.

1 Peter 1:22  Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:

We must purify our souls, renew our minds, to obey the truth and allow the life of the vine to pour out into every expression of our life.  One of the first evidences of this will be an unfeigned love for our brothers and sisters in Messiah.  Our joint union with the Master should cause such joy to overwhelm any other consideration we might have of them resulting in a genuine love.  This is not to be a difficult thing for us, and certainly not an undesirable one.  Peter explains why in the next verse of his letter.

23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of Elohim, which liveth and abideth for ever.

We are born again by the Word of IAUE.  There is no greater wellspring of power in existence.  The nature of that life is invincible, incorruptible and eternal.  If we abide in it, we will love the brethren and thus prove we are the disciples of the Master Yahushua Messiah.

Now let us consider our current status.  Can we think of even one brother or sister that we shun or avoid?  Is there one we consider foolish and not worth our time?  Is there one whose doctrinal beliefs make us choose to refuse to have fellowship with them? Is there one we would not choose to hug?  Is there one whose need we would not quickly meet out of our supply?  Is there one we would not help if they asked for it?  Is there one to whom would make excuses in order not to have any dealings with them?  Is there one for whom we would not lay down our life?  Such questions will betray how well or how poorly we obey the one commandment given to us by our Master. It will also explain why the world around us does not quickly recognize that we are the disciples of the Master Yahushua.

Be extremely attentive this next week to the way you relate to each brother or sister in Messiah. Be attentive to how your heart is hardened or softened towards them.  Be sensitive to your own attitudes they evoke within you; and to which ones you talk about as soon as they leave the room.

They will know we are his disciples because of our love for the brethren.  Not fake love; but unfeigned love.  The real thing.  (See Ephesians 3:14-21)