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2 The Law & The Law of Love Review

3 Review 1 Must one be a Christian to practice true spirituality? True spirituality is only through Christ, Christ plus. We are not to live by of things not to do, but to we are to live by the law of love, which demands a heart change. True spirituality is not but inward. Coveting is the side of the positive commands, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. and You shall love your neighbor as yourself (Matt 22:37b, 39b). Just as with the commandment Thou Shalt Not Kill does not only mean to not murder, it also means it s opposite; Thou Shalt Preserve Life. When we interpret the command, Thou Shalt Not Covet what is it s opposite? Thou Shalt the of others. In this study, Dr. Schaeffer teaches us to Love God enough not to against God and our neighbor.

4 Review 2 The law of love teaches us not to be envious but to be. Living out the law of love produces and thankfulness. Living out the law of love produces a in love for God and a compassion for others Schaeffer speaks of a true negative as opposed to the nihilist negative where the is no hope and no positive. In the Christian life there are negatives, but they are not negatives alone. While Christ crucified in one respect is a negative in that Christ died, yet the positive is that he rose from the dead, and because Christ lives, I will eternally.

5 The Centrality of Death

6 Negative & Positive Aspects We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. -Romans 6:4 We were buried therefore with him

7 Negative : Saying No! "We are to be willing to say 'no' to ourselves, we are to be willing to say "no" to things, in order that the command to love God and men may have real meaning. Even in things which are lawful to me, things which do not break the Ten Commandments, I am not to seek my own. but I am to seek another man's good." ~ True Spirituality Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done. -Luke 22:42 "And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God." -Ephesians 5:2

8 Obstacles to Self Sacrifice Success Mentality- "We are surrounded by a world that says "no" to nothing. When we are surrounded with this sort of mentality in which everything is judged by bigness and by success, then suddenly to be told that in the Christian life there is to be this strong negative aspect of saying 'no' to self, it must seem hard. And if it does not feel hard to us, we are not really letting it speak to us." ~ Schaeffer, True Spirituality Success Mentality- "We are surrounded

9 Obstacles to Self Sacrifice Mentality of Abundance - "We have produced a mentality of abundance, wherein everything is to be judged on the basis of whether it leads to abundance. Everything else must give in to this. Absolutes of any kind, ethical principles, everything must give in to affluence and selfish personal peace." ~ Schaeffer, True Spirituality Mentality of Abundance - "We have

10 Death to Self And the Death of Christ Now it happened that as he was praying alone, the disciples were with him. And he asked them, Who do the crowds say that I am? 19 And they answered, John the Baptist. But others say, Elijah, and others, that one of the prophets of old has risen. 20 Then he said to them, But who do you say that I am? And Peter answered, The Christ of God." 21 And he strictly charged and commanded them to tell this to no one, 22 saying, The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And he said to all, If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. 25 For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? 26 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. -Luke 9:18-26

11 Changing Perspective : The Transfiguration Now about eight days after these sayings he took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white. And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep, but when they became fully awake they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. And as the men were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, Master, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah not knowing what he said. As he was saying these things, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him! And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen. (Luke 9:28-36 ESV)

12 Changing Perspective : The Transfiguration We have here at the Mount of Transfiguration a preview of Christ in His glory. We have here a preview of that portion of the kingdom of God in which we stand after we have accepted Christ as our Savior. But we are swept on beyond this to the resurrection not only Christ s resurrection, but our future resurrection; we are swept on to the reign of Christ, and to eternity. This is a different perspective. It is a perspective which is completely the antithesis of the world s perspective, which normally surrounds us. When we begin to look at these words in this setting, this totally other perspective the perspective of the kingdom of God rather than the perspective of the fallen world and our own fallen nature it is different. Pressure is put upon us by a world that does not want to say no to self not just for a minor reason, but out of principle, because people are determined to be the center of the universe. When we step out of that very black perspective and into the perspective of the kingdom of God, then these negatives which are laid upon us take on an entirely different aspect. ~ Schaeffer, True Spirituality

13 The Prophesy of Our Redemption How central was Christ s death for our redemption! See Moses and Elijah standing there on the Mount of Transfiguration with Christ, all talking about this, discussing at length His coming death. They kept speaking about it. Equally it can be said how central and fundamental is our individual and continuing death by choice as Christians. There will be some pain here. Indeed, there are splinters in the Christian s cross as we are surrounded in this present life by an atmosphere alien to the kingdom of God. But this is the way of the cross: The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day (Luke 9:22). We can see how the order of events has meaning for us as Christians after justification: rejected, slain, raised.

14 Discussion