Grace and Truth
Bible Ministries

Reciprocal Love is put to the test in System Testing

We have seen that the basis for all true love is God's love. This makes our love a response to his love. This response is called reciprocal love.

Reciprocal love expresses the mutual love relationship between God and the Church Age believer under the ministry of God the Holy Spirit whereby the believer responds to the perfect love of God with Bible Doctrine.

Last time we concluded with the idea that spiritual self-esteem has the ability to love and be loved. Spiritual self-esteem along with impersonal love destroys inordinate ambition and inordinate competition.

The power of God the Holy Spirit under spiritual self-esteem is never insecure in love and affection and never feels threatened by arrogance or jealousy.

The arrogance of religion and legalism promote the idea of changing one's personality and lifestyle but spirituality is not changing one's lifestyle.

Remember, if the unbeliever can do it, it's not the spiritual life.

Reciprocity advances with the intake of doctrine. Reciprocity and the PMA of Bible Doctrine advance together. Love for God cannot advance without the increase of doctrinal understanding in your soul, and your doctrinal understanding cannot advance without your love for God.

Spiritual self-esteem is the beginning of a true change of character, not of personality. Spiritual self-esteem is the fulfillment of divine blessing related to reciprocal love for God.

Reciprocal love for God is the basis for eternal rewards. James1: 12; "Happy (is) the person who perseveres under testing; for when he passes the test, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love Him."

Testing is generally associated with pressure and stress, and is not normally associated with happiness, but in this case it is. Persevering under testing is the opportunity for spiritual growth, the opportunity to apply our love for God to the pressure and testing.

Reciprocal love for God under pressure and testing is knowing that God has never let you down and never will. The believer who uses reciprocal love for God to persevere and endure the testing and pressure will receive the eternal reward of the crown of life.

As Bible doctrine increases in the human soul there is an understanding in the soul that creates a system of worship that keeps pace with our spiritual advance. We have a simultaneous advance between perception and metabolization of doctrine and an increase in worship that combines with the Scripture we have learned.

This is what our Lord meant when He said in John 4:24; when he said, "They that worship Me must worship Me by means of the Holy Spirit and by means of truth (the word of God)"

Worship is a mental attitude that results in occupation with Christ and reciprocal love for God will inevitably result in being awarded the decoration of the crown of life.

Reciprocity brings a new kind of love to worship and simultaneously to the execution of the unique spiritual life of all human history. Christian worship is reciprocal love for God. It is not ritual or works.

This same love for God motivates the execution of the unique spiritual life of the Church Age. This means that the spiritual advance to the highest and best from God and the maximum glorification of God is simultaneous with the function of reciprocity.

Fulfillment of reciprocal love for God is the highest form of spiritual life that can possibly exist. This is the invisible impact of that winner believer.

1John 4:17; "Because of this (the believer's awareness of God's provision), reciprocal-love has been brought to completion with us, that we may have confidence in the day of evaluation; because just as He is, so also are we in this world."

God has provided all of these things for us, and we respond with confidence. Confidence sets aside all of the nonessentials in life.

Every Church Age believer will be evaluated on one principle: the spiritual life that we have received demands that we make responsible decisions, that we establish a scale of values that is so high that it motivates us through love for God to enter into the execution of this spiritual life and make Bible doctrine the highest priority in our scale of values.

"as He is" refers to the prototype spiritual life that our Lord used during the unglorified stage of the hypostatic union.

"so also are we" refers to the operational spiritual life of the Church Age.

This operational spiritual life results in glory not shame.

1John 2:28; "Now, little children, stay in fellowship with Him, that if He should appear, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming."

1Pet 1:8; "And though you have not seen Him, you love Him. And though you are not seeing Him now, but believing, you greatly rejoice, full of glory."

Col 1:27; "Christ indwelling you, the absolute confidence of glory.

Reciprocal Love is demonstrated in system testing.

The authority in a system establishes a policy for the execution or fulfillment of the objectives. There has to be a system designed to accomplish the objectives.

A system is defined as an organization composed of people under the command of other people, functioning under a policy, which is designed to fulfill a specific objective.

Systems include business organizations, military services, professional organizations including medical, engineering and law firms, academic organizations such as colleges or universities, church organizations such as denominations and local assemblies, athletic organizations, and the divine institutions of marriage, family and civil government.

There are good and bad organizations, good and bad systems, good and bad leadership and authority, good and bad policies, and good and bad objectives.

Therefore, there are many areas of system testing related to people, policy, and purposes of any given organization.

Because no one is perfect and everyone has an old sin nature, personnel, policy, and purpose often conflict.

So within the organization, at least three areas of system testing exist including:

Personality conflicts within the organization including unfair and unjust treatment from someone in charge, playing favorites.

Policy pressures in the system including the that testing comes from policy that is unreasonable or policy that conflicts with normal living or policy that conflicts with norms and standards or policy that is stupid but is still enforced.

Pressures in fulfilling the objectives of the organization include unreasonable objectives that are impossible to execute, lack of ability to fulfill the objectives, and conflict of personal life with the objectives.

The greatest enemy of any organization is arrogance plus incapability plus laziness plus distraction by wrong priorities plus ignorance that equals people who are inept.
Reciprocal love motivation is the divine solution to all corporate authority problems.

For the Christian to glorify God in a system, the believer must be motivated by the advance in the perception, metabolization, and application of Bible doctrine and the advance in reciprocity or love for God..

The are three stages in the advance of the spiritual life that are significant are spiritual self-esteem with it's cognitive self confidence, spiritual autonomy, with it's cognitive independence and spiritual maturity with it's cognitive invincibility.

Beginning with the motivation of cognitive self confidence in spiritual self-esteem, the believer can deal with the unfair policy and treatment from management, because these advances in the spiritual life represent the function of reciprocity.

You put the matter in the Lord's hands and proceed to do your job as unto the Lord. You continue to have impersonal love for all. Together these move you to occupation with Christ.

Beginning with the motivation of spiritual self-esteem, the believer can deal with unfair policy and treatment from management and go right on and do his or her job without regard to the unfairness.

Motivation for passing the testing is to focus on doing your job as unto the Lord.

Motivation to pass system testing comes from reciprocal love for God.

Reciprocal love for God motivation does not complain because the love for God is the point of reference for the spiritual life, not competition with others.

Reciprocal love does not become involved in organizational conspiracy.

Impersonal love as a part of reciprocal love does not get involved in personality conflict.

Through the function of the faith-rest drill plus the right application of metabolized doctrine, you do not complain about unfair treatment, but put the matter in the hands of the supreme court of heaven and keep on moving.

The Lord will promote the person who perseveres and does a good job under system testing. 1Pet 5:6;

 

© Copyright 2007, Michael Lemmon Bible Ministries. World Rights Reserved.  This document was created on 10/13/2010