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Are You Seen as Yahshua's Disciple?by Phil Maxwell June 20, 2002For 3 ½ years, Yahshua’s disciples were known as His disciples because they openly followed Him wherever He went. When He spoke, they listened; when He said do this or that, they did it. As Yahshua’s departure drew near, however, He offered them another way by which others would know they were His after He was gone. First, He gave them a new commandment, that they love one another as He had loved them, then he added that doing so would be how others would recognize them as His disciples after He was gone. In other words, just as people could easily see they were His disciples by the fact that they followed Him in the flesh, they would henceforth recognize them as His disciples because they followed Him in the Spirit. The point was, is, and will always be that Yahshua’s true disciples are those who submit to His authority, and that they would be seen as His disciples by this fact. We live in a world where “love” seldom means anything like what Yahshua felt for His disciples and commanded them to have for each other. Nevertheless, He both commanded it and identified it as the insignia that would identify them as His disciples in the eyes of others – not miracles, doctrines, self-discipline, or anything else. Clearly, He intended the relationships between His followers to not only be extraordinary, but to be seen as extraordinary by others. Don’t be deceived by that, though: People may recognize the extraordinary love of the Spirit between Yahshua’s followers, but they will not love you for showing it to them. Oh no, quite the contrary: They will hate you for it. They will try everything to steal it from you, and if that fails, they will kill you for it. The love Yahshua commands of His disciples cannot exist in a vacuum. Faith works by love, and faith that does not work is dead. True love born of the Spirit exists between two or more people openly demonstrating that they are His disciples by practicing the extraordinary love of the Spirit. This bond of holy love is the fruit of the Spirit He gives to individuals, but like seed without soil, it is worthless unless it is sown and nurtured in faith, guarding it from all threats and enemies. Those who come to Christ are given the power to BECOME children of God by the Spirit which He gives. The Spirit itself is what HE gives, the fruit we bring forth of that Spirit is what WE are required to bring forth. To think otherwise is to be as the lazy and foolish servant who hid his talent instead of investing it. Chief amongst those fruits is the love between us and our brethren in Christ, who are all those whom Christ has received, not just those we feel like having fellowship with. The love of God will be opposed more than anything else one can do in the name of Christ, as it is the greatest of all the fruits of the Spirit, but those who love Him will endure. They will be seen as the ones who don’t let their love wax cold in spite of all trials and temptations. Their roots run deep. Yahshua Himself said it, that because sin would abound, the love of many would wax cold, but he that endured to the end would be saved. Endure what? Endure the temptation to be seduced, coerced, distracted, deceived, robbed, or whatever means the enemy can find to quench the Spirit between those that show their love for Yahshua by doing as He says: Loving one another with a love born in heaven, not the earth. The devil hates that love and has plenty of faithful children in this world who are ready, willing, and able to exercise his wrath against those who bring it forth. People seek the “greater works” Yahshua promised, but fail to see the greatest work He gives, which is the extraordinary love of the Spirit that springs forth BETWEEN those who both hear and do as. Even Yahshua made it clear that forgiving a crippled man’s sins was a far greater work than healing him, and He has committed the same word of reconciliation to us. He healed the man to signify the love He had for him. Perhaps the reason we don’t see what people falsely think are “greater works” is that we neither recognize nor seek the greatest work of His Spirit, to love and be bound in the Spirit with our heavenly family. If those who call Him Lord actually had something to show that they were truly and distinctly His disciples, He would move mountains and part seas if necessary for them to be seen. To seek the power of God in such ways without seeking to love with a love that can be born only of His Spirit is folly. Why should He? Because your doctrine, organization, programs, or whatever are so impressive? Don’t be ridiculous! He’ll bless those who show a love between them that transcends anything the world has ever seen; the kind of love He empowers all who receive Yahshua to grow into with the gift of the Holy Spirit…the kind of love that others will hate you for having, as Cain hated Abel for the blessing Yahweh bestowed upon him. May the light of God’s extraordinary love shine bright between you and those you regard as your brethren in Christ. The Bridegroom is coming, but so is the thief. The Bridegroom will only come to those houses that are aflame with love for Him, which is evident by their love for one another by the oil of His Spirit. The thief will have everything else. |
