Unity Church of Castro Valley
Sunday Message for February 17, 2008
Jesus
This week we are going to talk about who Jesus was. Sometimes we get confused about Jesus and The Christ. Because, really, Christ was not Jesus' last name. Jesus was a man, a Jewish man.
According to Charles Fillmore's Metaphysical Bible Dictionary: "Jesus represents God's idea of man in expression; Christ is that idea in the absolute. Jesus Christ was the type man, which includes all the mental phases through which man passes in demonstrating life's problems."
THE TEMPTATIONS
Jesus went through all the trials, temptations, and mental variations that each of us go through. But he showed us how to do it without giving in to all the negative thoughts.
Right after Jesus was baptized by his cousin, John, he went out into the wilderness and fasted for forty days. In fasting, we go, in thought, above the material needs. I think the realization of what he was going to do, and who he was had just hit home with him.
Sometimes we, too, need to do this. It can be overwhelming when we finally surrender to our God-given purpose in life. A lot of fears and doubts come up. So we need to go apart from the world, go within, and let God reassure us. We need to face the fears and deal with them.
After fasting (Matthew 4:2-4) "Jesus was famished. The tempter came and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread." But he answered, "It is written, "One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.' "
And if we are to follow our divine guidance, we can't be distracted by things in the world. Materiality will never satisfy your soul. Your dream may seem impossible if you get caught up in what it will look like, or how much it is going to cost, or how long it will take. But if you just trust God with your dream, you can concentrate on the step you are taking right now and let the rest unfold in Divine Order. You have to feed your soul with new truths daily so that you can grow in spiritual ways.
(Matthew 4:5-7) "Then the devil took Jesus to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, "He will command his angels concerning you,' and "On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.' " Jesus said to him, "Again it is written, "Do not put the Lord your God to the test.' "
There is an old Arabic saying, "Trust God but tie up your camel." This is what Jesus was saying. So as we continue on our God-given path we need to trust God, but we need, also, to not do anything stupid. Trusting God does not mean sitting on your fanny and waiting for money to fall from the sky. You are the hands, feet, eyes, ears, etc. of God. As you progress on your path, do the things that need to be done to get to where you want to go. And in the process, don't jump off any tall buildings.
(Matthew 4:8-10) "Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; and he said to him, "All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me." Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan! for it is written, "Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.' "
This is the voice of the Ego - you can recognize it because it will promise you wonderful things. Jesus was saying that he is not going to let his Ego rule his life. He was not going to give His ego the substance of His life and thought. When we truly understand who and what we are, we will understand how much power we really have. At this point our egos raise their ugly heads and want to rule the world. We have to be really clear that we worship only God, not our ego.
There is enormous power in the Christ within us when we surrender to it. But the Force can only be used for good - we can't go over to the Dark Side. As we grow spiritually we need to be very conscious to come from our heart, not our ego. To serve God we must build up spiritually in mind, body, and in our affairs.
(Matthew 4:11) "Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him."
Throughout this account of Jesus you must realize that the references to the 'devil' are really references to Jesus' own ego state. There was no red man with horns and a tail present in this story. The devil represents our personality which is in ignorance and disregard of the divine law. Jesus was struggling with his own ego and overcame this struggle. The temptation of Jesus took place within Himself. The place of overcoming is within our own consciousness. When we follow Jesus we rise above the demands of the flesh and sense world.
When we make that change within ourselves, eventually the ego influence will lesson. Then angles will come and wait on us. We will be divinely supplied with everything we need to fulfill our dreams.
THE NEW MAN
Fillmore writes that, "We may "put on the new man," that is, bring forth Jesus Christ in ourselves. First we must put away the "old man" of error and limitation through denial of his reality. The second step is to accept the truth of our being, in faith; then through understanding to begin diligently to live Truth in thought, word, and deed. The Christ is the man that God created, the perfect-idea man, and is the real self of all men; Jesus Christ is this Christ self brought forth into perfect expression and manifestation."
We have the ability to bring forth the Christ from within us. But we must first give up our old way of thinking and doing. We have to release our thoughts of error and limitation. We have to give up our belief in the devil - or the belief that we are ruled by our ego.
Then we have to embody the idea that we are the children of God. This is the truth of our being. This is what we are and we need to live as if we believed it. What would a child of God think? What would a child of God say? What would a child of God do?
The Christ within us is that perfect child of God and we can live from that center of our being. In fact if we choose life - we must live from that center of our being.
SUPERHUMAN
Jesus was our example to show us that it is possible. He is the type-man. We are told in (Philippians 2:5) "Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus." This implies that we can demonstrate as He did. But we have to carefully watch over our thoughts.
The mind that was in Christ Jesus was the mind of God, so we know that we must be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect. This seems to be a superhuman achievement, and it is. The human part of us has to take a backseat as the divine is established in its place. The human is transient and fallible; the divine is permanent and infallible.
DECLARE YOUR TRUTH
(Luke 4:16-21) "When Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."
In this story Jesus represents the Spirit of truth declaring its mission and power in the place of its development, the common, everyday mind. The highest spiritual Truth may come to you while you are performing the commonest duties of life. You can become enlightened while doing dishes, or watering your plants, or fixing your car. You don't need to go sit in a cave for years to be enlightened.
Jesus declared his Truth in Nazareth, his home town. Nazareth is a type of inferiority; it was considered a community of commonplace and disreputable people. Yet in that mediocre village Jesus was raised. Which shows us that in anyone's mediocre mind the Christ Truth is expressed.
We are all one in God, each of us has the possibility of expressing the Christ just as Jesus did. Wayne Dyer said, "All we need to do is to be willing to contemplate that change in our life."
TRANSFIGURATION
Do you ask God for signs of power? Do you want miracles in your life without doing the work of right thinking and right doing? Then you haven't yet got the concept of how the Christ Spirit shows up. You are looking for the temporal instead of the eternal. If this is how you think then you will reject the Christ Spirit when it does show up.
(Mark 9:2-13) "Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. Then Peter said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, "This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!" Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus. As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead. So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead could mean. Then they asked him, "Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?" He said to them, "Elijah is indeed coming first to restore all things. How then is it written about the Son of Man, that he is to go through many sufferings and be treated with contempt? But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written about him."
Jesus went up the mountain to pray and was transfigured. Prayer always creates a high mental energy. And when it is linked with faith (Peter), love (John), and judgment (James) there is a lifting of the body also. That is why he became dazzling white.
The presence of Moses and Elijah represents the two processes through which the purified man is to be demonstrated in real life. The first is the evolutionary process of nature which is a steady upward trend of all things. This process is part of a spiritual plan for the redemption of the human race from its fallen state. The other is the ability of the prophet Elijah to make conditions change rapidly on the mental plane through spiritually discerning Truth. So it says in the story that Elijah must come first and restore all things. We have to first have spiritual understanding, then we will manifest in the world.
Jesus tell the disciples to keep this to themselves, don't tell anyone until he has risen from the dead. The visions and dreams that we see in our higher spiritual moments are not real physical things that we can discuss with others. They are ideas that can only be understood by the highly illuminated person or the 'risen man.'
That is where our classes serve us - you can talk about illumined experiences in our Quest class - and be believed and encouraged.
I would like to end with scripture from Romans and 1 Corinthians:
(Romans 12:2) "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God--what is good and acceptable and perfect." (1 Corinthians 2:16) "For we have the mind of Christ."
SCRIPTURE: Matthew 4:2-11; Luke 4:16-21; Mark 9:2-13; Philippians 2:5; Romans 12:2; 1 Corinthians 2:16
REFERENCE: The Metaphysical Bible Dictionary by Charles Fillmore
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Last updated
February 18, 2008
