Our Master said, "Love one another as you are loved."
Part 1: What it Means to be ‘Mastered’
"Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?" [Luke 6:46, NASB]
We have no idea what it really means to have a Master—rather, to be mastered. We having nothing in our world to compare it to. But we desperately need to understand and embrace it. It’s crucial to our eternal survival. Henry Blackaby (author of Experiencing God) has said, “When God calls a man to himself, he calls him to the absolute, unconditional Lordship of Jesus Christ over every area of his life.” When he emphasized the words “absolute,” “unconditional,” “Lordship” and “every area,” the idea was seared into my conscience. It was a small beginning to this understanding—which I am far from having attained—that He is my Master. This blessed road we’ve been chosen to walk is no light footpath; it is a harsh, hard, and narrow path—but never-ending and always-increasing joy awaits us at the crest of the hill.
This week we begin a series of messages directed by the statement above: “Our Master said ‘Love one another, as you are loved.’” We may not care to admit it, but this can be one of the steepest, and rockiest sections of our upward climb. It is hard to love people. More clearly, it is hard to love all people, at all times, in all circumstances. Yet, “Our Master has spoken.” So we must obey fully, and joyfully, because there is no other path to his presence than faith-induced, and love-soaked obedience. So, first, we look at the words “Our Master said…” – at what it means to be Mastered.
To have a Master means that we have no final say over what happens to our lives. This is the case for everyone and everything in the created world: this is his world, and we just live in it. God is not campaigning for office: he’s already on the throne—and his term lasts forever. Every creature ever created is subject to his “absolute, unconditional Lordship.” Some are striving to be loyal, obedient (and therefore joyful) subjects. The vast majority, however, are not. Instead, they live out a tragic life, well-expressed by William Earnest Henley in his poem Invictus:
It is merely an eloquent way of expressing the same rebellion inherent in all of us as children: “You’re not the boss of me!” This is the mantra of the treasonous subject: “I AM the master…I AM the captain…” But God is the only “I AM.” And those endeavoring to be loyal subjects understand this. We have seen the reality of our situation, which Charles Wesley put into the awe-inspiring words of his hymn, Amazing Love:
But we all know this—at least, we know it in concept. In practice, we fail in many ways. I’ll mention three of the most common ways that I’ve experienced.
The first is when we plainly say, “No, Lord.” And this we cannot say. The first word undoes the second one. We cannot say “No” to our “Lord.” We may say only “No,” or we may say only “Lord.” We cannot have both—they do not belong together. If he is our Lord, “No” must be dropped from our vocabulary.
The second is that we, sometimes unconsciously, pass his commands through our ‘approval process.’ We try to imagine why we should obey, or what the outcome might be, and then, seeing it, we agree. As if to say, “I think I see where you’re going with this, Lord, and I hereby deem it a worthy project and thus have decided in favor of your proposal, O God most High. I give it full support—well done, thou good and faithful God.” The essence of being Mastered is deciding before we even hear the command that we will obey—period. The rest is just details.
The third way is that we receive the command, then ‘revise it,’ then imagine that we have somehow obeyed. C. S. Lewis puts it perfectly in his book, The Four Loves:
Piercing words—they sure hit home for me. We must know ourselves in reality—we are so prone to imagination. And this ‘knowing’ will only come if we are alert and aware as we leave the ‘devotional time’ or ‘church’ bubble, and carry our Master’s commands into the world. How do I react when someone cuts me off? How about when they won’t let me return a damaged good? “Love them, as you are loved.” How often do we revise it, and apply the command to whomever we will or won’t? That is not for us to do. Only God ‘shows mercy on whom he will show mercy.’ Only He has that absolute freedom to do as wills, when he wills, nothing more or less. We, on the other hand, have a Master. And “Our Master said ‘Love one another, as you are loved.” Case closed.
So this is, briefly, what it means to have a Master, and to be mastered by him: absolute, unconditional, consistent, joyful obedience. And “Our Master said ‘Love one another, as you are loved.’” If we would be honest, this is a very steep, and very rocky portion of the path. But, thankfully, God is good. And “with God, all things are possible.” Is it worth it? Oh, I cannot say ‘yes!’ loudly enough! The joy set before us is unimaginable. It is unthinkable. It is beyond all hope and expectation—so let us labor not to fall from the heights, and let us examine our hearts in honesty, and lay down those areas we’ve held back from our King, and let us press on to attain the prize! For “Our Master has spoken...!” and he awaits us at the hill’s crest!!
[Next week we’ll look at the next part of our statement above: “Love…as you are loved.” Loving as we are loved means two things: loving how we are loved, and loving why are loved. And that's where we'll pick up our discussion next week. Thanks for reading!]
Recommendations
[site] 722.org, Louie Giglio’s (of Passion) weekly Bible Study for twenty-somethings [loosely defined as 18-35]. Streaming video of live worship and excellent exhortation. A great way to spend a late night.
"Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?" [Luke 6:46, NASB]
We have no idea what it really means to have a Master—rather, to be mastered. We having nothing in our world to compare it to. But we desperately need to understand and embrace it. It’s crucial to our eternal survival. Henry Blackaby (author of Experiencing God) has said, “When God calls a man to himself, he calls him to the absolute, unconditional Lordship of Jesus Christ over every area of his life.” When he emphasized the words “absolute,” “unconditional,” “Lordship” and “every area,” the idea was seared into my conscience. It was a small beginning to this understanding—which I am far from having attained—that He is my Master. This blessed road we’ve been chosen to walk is no light footpath; it is a harsh, hard, and narrow path—but never-ending and always-increasing joy awaits us at the crest of the hill.
This week we begin a series of messages directed by the statement above: “Our Master said ‘Love one another, as you are loved.’” We may not care to admit it, but this can be one of the steepest, and rockiest sections of our upward climb. It is hard to love people. More clearly, it is hard to love all people, at all times, in all circumstances. Yet, “Our Master has spoken.” So we must obey fully, and joyfully, because there is no other path to his presence than faith-induced, and love-soaked obedience. So, first, we look at the words “Our Master said…” – at what it means to be Mastered.
To have a Master means that we have no final say over what happens to our lives. This is the case for everyone and everything in the created world: this is his world, and we just live in it. God is not campaigning for office: he’s already on the throne—and his term lasts forever. Every creature ever created is subject to his “absolute, unconditional Lordship.” Some are striving to be loyal, obedient (and therefore joyful) subjects. The vast majority, however, are not. Instead, they live out a tragic life, well-expressed by William Earnest Henley in his poem Invictus:
OUT of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
It is merely an eloquent way of expressing the same rebellion inherent in all of us as children: “You’re not the boss of me!” This is the mantra of the treasonous subject: “I AM the master…I AM the captain…” But God is the only “I AM.” And those endeavoring to be loyal subjects understand this. We have seen the reality of our situation, which Charles Wesley put into the awe-inspiring words of his hymn, Amazing Love:
Long my imprisoned spirit lay
Fast bound in sin and nature's night;
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray,
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed thee.
But we all know this—at least, we know it in concept. In practice, we fail in many ways. I’ll mention three of the most common ways that I’ve experienced.
The first is when we plainly say, “No, Lord.” And this we cannot say. The first word undoes the second one. We cannot say “No” to our “Lord.” We may say only “No,” or we may say only “Lord.” We cannot have both—they do not belong together. If he is our Lord, “No” must be dropped from our vocabulary.
The second is that we, sometimes unconsciously, pass his commands through our ‘approval process.’ We try to imagine why we should obey, or what the outcome might be, and then, seeing it, we agree. As if to say, “I think I see where you’re going with this, Lord, and I hereby deem it a worthy project and thus have decided in favor of your proposal, O God most High. I give it full support—well done, thou good and faithful God.” The essence of being Mastered is deciding before we even hear the command that we will obey—period. The rest is just details.
The third way is that we receive the command, then ‘revise it,’ then imagine that we have somehow obeyed. C. S. Lewis puts it perfectly in his book, The Four Loves:
"Those like myself, whose imagination far exceeds their obedience are subject to a just penalty; we easily imagine conditions far higher than any we have really reached. If we describe what we have imagined we may make others, and make ourselves believe that we have really been there - and so fool both them and ourselves." [C. S. Lewis, The Four Loves [New York: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1960], p. 140. Thanks, Dunphey, for the quote.
Piercing words—they sure hit home for me. We must know ourselves in reality—we are so prone to imagination. And this ‘knowing’ will only come if we are alert and aware as we leave the ‘devotional time’ or ‘church’ bubble, and carry our Master’s commands into the world. How do I react when someone cuts me off? How about when they won’t let me return a damaged good? “Love them, as you are loved.” How often do we revise it, and apply the command to whomever we will or won’t? That is not for us to do. Only God ‘shows mercy on whom he will show mercy.’ Only He has that absolute freedom to do as wills, when he wills, nothing more or less. We, on the other hand, have a Master. And “Our Master said ‘Love one another, as you are loved.” Case closed.
So this is, briefly, what it means to have a Master, and to be mastered by him: absolute, unconditional, consistent, joyful obedience. And “Our Master said ‘Love one another, as you are loved.’” If we would be honest, this is a very steep, and very rocky portion of the path. But, thankfully, God is good. And “with God, all things are possible.” Is it worth it? Oh, I cannot say ‘yes!’ loudly enough! The joy set before us is unimaginable. It is unthinkable. It is beyond all hope and expectation—so let us labor not to fall from the heights, and let us examine our hearts in honesty, and lay down those areas we’ve held back from our King, and let us press on to attain the prize! For “Our Master has spoken...!” and he awaits us at the hill’s crest!!
[Next week we’ll look at the next part of our statement above: “Love…as you are loved.” Loving as we are loved means two things: loving how we are loved, and loving why are loved. And that's where we'll pick up our discussion next week. Thanks for reading!]
Recommendations
[site] 722.org, Louie Giglio’s (of Passion) weekly Bible Study for twenty-somethings [loosely defined as 18-35]. Streaming video of live worship and excellent exhortation. A great way to spend a late night.
posted by Unknown at 11/12/2004 06:34:00 PM
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