You Said It… Absolutely!

WED., FEB. 3, 1993, 9:02 AM
OFFICE, PULLIAM HALL

The discussion group this morning was a good experience, even as you feel a bit uneasy being dubbed as a relativist in terms of ethical and moral issues. I did push you, however, to declare your major absolute: faith in Me and in the promise of salvation and everlasting life, with Me. Now you didn’t really say all of this, but you opened the way for such a testimony, with expansion as I shall suggest, in the future.

The primary absolute you should affirm, as you did, is that I, as Jesus, died for you and took your sins (including doubt) upon Myself, leaving you washed clean. You still have a sinful nature, as I did as Jesus, but your sins are not noted nor held against you… as Mine were not. You are absolutely free from sin that could alter your relationship with Me. Conversely, you are motivated, by this relationship, to serve Me in the many ways you do. You know there are other services that you do not do, that you should. You do waste some time, but I charge you to remember your own observation, of many years back: if you are doing something worthwhile you needn’t be concerned about the many other worthwhile actions you could be taking, in the same time period.

I say to you… not as I say to every other disciple of Mine… that the commandments, laws, and teachings of Mine, including this Sermon you now are studying, are not absolutes, but are guides to the actions of all, and particularly those who are, like you, born again to close relationship with Me. Yet the degree of absoluteness or relativity is relative. “You shall have no other Gods before Me” is a relatively absolute commandment. Yet even if, temporarily, you give more time, energy, and spirit to your job or your family than to Me, you are not cast out for such an apparent breaking of the Commandment. Instead, your relationship with Me, and My urging, soon brings you back to Me, as the only God.

“Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy” is one that is much more relative. If you commence a Sunday morn with a Teaching from Me, read the Scriptures for the morning one or more times, participate fully in the worship service, the coffee hour, and your class (having taken notes on the sermon), you have clearly remembered the Sabbath. What about the rest of the day? Working around your Farm to make it more beautiful and more functional could “count,” depending on your attitude. Watching a football game, grading papers, or watching some crime show could hardly be deemed as fulfillment of this commandment.

Laws, that I said, as Jesus, should be fulfilled, such as sacrificing an animal upon the altar or stoning to death a prostitute or a homosexual, can be seen as so relative that they can be disobeyed without fear of arousing My wrath.

As I have told you before, that relative passage, attributed to The Preacher in Ecclesiastes, is an appropriately attractive one for you. “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.” Though love is a virtue, you read that “there is a time for love and a time for hate.” As Jesus I seemed, at least, to hate the Pharisees and how they were misrepresenting the proper response to Me, as the God Who chose them. This is not an equal relativity… love is the better way, but there are a few times when hate is appropriate.