Episode 21 is the second part of a a three-part summary of Jesus’ gospel teachings that the new teachers need to bring to the world to effect the return to the actual teachings of Jesus.

 

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Transcript

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The Future of the Teachings of Jesus

10. The Message of the New Revelation–Part 2

Summary Outline of Jesus’ Gospel Teachings Continued (Ep. 21)

 

Introduction. This is part 2 of a series of three podcasts summarizing the basic gospel message that we need to bring to the world’s attention to effect the revival of the actual teachings of Jesus. The first topic of today’s outline is spiritual progress.

Spiritual progress. We enter the kingdom as little children, but God’s will for us is that we grow up, by faith, to full spiritual adulthood. We cannot stand still in the kingdom. God’s will for us is that we make continuous spiritual progress throughout our lives. This progress occurs primarily through gradual growth and through our responses to specific crises. Our spiritual growth is predicated on our humility, our consciousness of being “poor in spirit” (Mt. 5:3) combined with perfection hunger our “hunger and thirst after righteousness.” (Mt. 5:6) We grow in spirituality by maintaining our connection with God and continuously bearing spiritual fruit. Our spiritual development is directly proportional to the elimination of selfishness in our love. Spirituality indicates our closeness to God and our usefulness to others.

Self-control. Our entrance into the kingdom, our showing forth the fruit of the spirit, and our spiritual progress all require that acme of all human virtues, rugged self-control. Self-control is the demand of life, and no one can secure it for us. It is totally up to us; we must recognize its great import and practice it all our lives. In this as in so many things we may learn from the life example of Jesus. He was a perfected specimen of self-control throughout the many trials and tribulations of his life, culminating with a cruel and unjust death. The secret of his self-control was his faith in the Father’s indwelling spirit. As we practice and grow in self-control and its associated virtues of moderation, temperance, and self-restraint we grow in self-mastery, our highest mortal attainment and a true indicator of our spiritual development.

Righteousness. Jesus taught “Happy are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled.” (Mt. 5:6) We enter the kingdom by faith but having entered the kingdom there are progressive steps of righteousness that we must ascend to grow up to the full stature of strong and robust children of God. As we learn to love others as ourselves, and thereby forgive them, we advance in kingdom righteousness. Jesus taught that our moral conduct, our true righteousness, is the natural result of our love for others.

Virtue and righteousness. Virtue is righteousness and is realized in our lives by the consistent choosing of good over evil. Supreme virtue is to wholeheartedly choose to do the Father’s will. In our earth life we are called to make spiritual progress in the kingdom and attain a level of virtue and righteousness that is sufficient for us to pass judgment and be reborn on the heavenly mansion worlds.

Humility. Jesus taught “Happy are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Mt. 5:1) To be “poor in spirit” is to be humble. Jesus’ teachings on humility are well illustrated by his parable of The Pharisee and the Publican. (Lk. 18:9-14) The Pharisee was prideful while the publican was humble; the publican was approved by God. We must realize our utter smallness and insignificance when contrasted with the greatness, nobility, and infinity of God. To be humble is simply to be realistic about our place in the universe. To make spiritual progress in the kingdom requires that we begin from a place that recognizes our weak, fallible, mortal, and finite nature, and our need for help, guidance, and strength from above. When we make progress and are tempted to become prideful we should reflect on Lucifer, who was a high Son of God, who succumbed to pride because of his brightness and fell from heaven. Lucifer’s fate is well described in Isaiah, 14:12: “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, Son of the morning.”

Communion with God. Our advancement and growth to maturity in the spiritual kingdom depends on maintaining our spiritual connection and communication with the Father’s indwelling spirit and increasingly showing forth the fruit of the spirit in our daily lives. We may maintain our communion with God in various ways including spiritual meditation, prayer, thanksgiving, and worship.

Meditation. Jesus practiced mental-spiritual meditation throughout his life. Jesus’ style of meditation was always active and positive; it was not the passive type of meditation taught by some Eastern teachers and mystics. Jesus style meditation is an active mental reflection on a subject from a spiritual point of view with continued and focused thought. Normally, material matters and the demands of daily life dominate our minds. However, we may increasingly direct our minds to the contemplation of spiritual subjects, such as what right and what Jesus would have us do in specific situations. Jesus style meditation makes the contact of our mind with spirit. Our level of relaxation determines our receptivity to spiritual influence. In meditation we take the first step in the spiritualization of our thinking. We should remember that Jesus spent much time in meditation on God’s will, how he should carry out his work, and the next step to be taken in his eventful life.

Prayer. As God’s children we have the great privilege of directly communicating with our Father through prayer. We should pray to God sincerely, wholeheartedly, intelligently, unselfishly, trusting, and in the spirit. Paul advised us to, “Pray without ceasing.” (1 Thess. 5:16) We need to learn to pray for spiritual values (such as courage, patience, and endurance)–not things. We may always pray for wisdom and spiritual strength to guide and sustain us as we ourselves resolutely seek to overcome our problems.  Jesus urged us to persist in our prayer, he taught that we “ought always to pray and not lose heart.” (Lk. 18:1) The greater the faith we can muster in our prayer, the greater the chance our prayer will be heard and answered. Jesus taught that, “If you have faith, you will say to this mountain: “Move from here to there, and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.” (Mt. 17:20) The one prayer that is appropriate at all times and in all situations is, “your will be done.” (Lk. 22:44)

Thanksgiving. A thankful attitude makes for true happiness. The prayer of thanksgiving for our many individual blessings is a wonderful habit that should be practiced daily. Scripture encourages us ever to be thankful. Psalms 92:1 affirms that, “It is a good thing to give thanks to the Lord” and Psalms 100:4 instructs us to, “Enter his gates with thanksgiving.” In 1 Thessalonians 5:18 Paul states, “In everything I will give thanks, for this is the will of God.” Giving thanks in our prayer for something in the future expresses our faith that God will answer our prayer. The prayer of thanksgiving is especially appropriate for group prayers. When we pray with thanksgiving we ascend from prayer towards true worship.

Worship. In prayer there is a self-element involved, but not so in worship. Worship is for its own sake and seeks nothing in return. Worship is our highest form of communion with God. It is effortless attention, true and ideal soul rest. It may be thought of as the tuning in of the soul to receive the broadcasts of the spirit. In worship we refresh our soul, inspire our mind, and renew our spirit. Our worship is the measure of our soul’s detachment from material realities and its simultaneous attachment to higher spiritual realities. Like prayer, worship forever distinguishes humans from the higher animals who possess no such capability. Our highest form of worship is the dedication of our personal free will to the doing of our Father’s will. It is the one gift that we truly possess that we may give to our Father. Jesus gave expression to this worship in his two great prayers, “your will be done” (Mt. 6:10) and “not my will, but yours, be done.” (Lk. 22:42)

Unbroken communion. In our communication with the Father our highest possible goal is to reach the unbroken communion that Jesus attained in his earth life. The secret of Jesus’ unparallel religious life was his consciousness of the presence of God and he achieved this ideal state by intelligent prayer and sincere worship–unbroken communion with the Father. It is good to practice living as if we are in the presence of God. We should feel free to talk to God as we would talk to a loving and respected human father. We need to choose to share our inner life with God, to choose to go into partnership with the Father’s indwelling spirit and share our inner life with Him.

 

 

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