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The Tree of Light and its Lighted Path
Bounteous and Cherished Is This Grace
melody
Bounteous and cherished is this grace
That warms and lights the heart,
Of every sheep that seeks His face,
On ways His word imparts.
Jesus from heaven's glory turned
That he might reach for me,
That I might worldly riches spurn
And reach for Him His sheep.
Twain are the calls, unto the saved,
That lead to heav'n above;
Faith in Thy Son unlocks its gate,
Two, is Thy way of love.
There in this way are waters still;
I see my cross to bear;
Its burden, light, to do Thy will
Of works Thou hast prepared.
O child of light, this work will make
Thy heav'nly calling sure---
To love the flock with faith unfeigned,
And conscience good and pure.
Words: 2016 Stephen Popovich
Music: St. Agnes 1866 by John Dykes
1John 1:6
If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
(KJV)
Fellowship Greek = koinonia (κοινωνiα) = communion, oneness, intimacy, partnership.
Bounteous and cherished is this grace
God's word is a pathway that flows from His heart (Ps.86:11-12). Blessed are those that walk thereon (Rev.3:20) and continue to do so (Jn.15:10-11). It is the place of face time with the Lord (Pr.27:19, Ps.27:8)
That warms and lights the heart,
Of every sheep that seeks His face,
Satan's dark ways are comprised of false words that deceive and produce works of darkness (Eph.5:6-11)
Jesus both spoke and personified the words of the Father. Those who receive His words are washed in His blood, born by His Spirit and walk in the light of fellowship with God (Jn.8:12).
On ways His word imparts.
1John 2:9-11
He that saith he is in the
light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes. (KJV)
The Greek word is skä'n-dä-lon which means offense or stumbling block. To stumble and/or fall in scripture is a metaphor for sinning (Lk.17:1-2, Rom.14:13, Rev.2:14).
Light leads to love letting in more light
As believers walk in the light of God's they build each other up in that word---causing them to stand and not stumble (Mat.22:37-40)
O Child of light, this work will make
Thy heav'nly calling sure---
To love the flock with faith unfeigned
Blinded by the lies
False words spoken by false 'teachers' are Satan's device for blinding fallen man from the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ (2Cor.4:4-6, Eph.4:17-18). The Bible speaks of blindness to describe those who do not understand the truth even though they are in possession of the words of knowledge (Rom.2:19). Even believers are susceptible to walking blind if they are not careful
to keep God's word
(2Pet.1:8-9).
1John 3:6
Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. (KJV)
God's word is pure because it proceeds from a holy God. If any man sins, it isn't because God's word condones, tolerates or promotes sin as some false prophets teach, such as the Gnostics who prowled among the churches at the time of this letter. Those who know, understand and abide in God's word will be in a place of love and purity; or as Paul saya in 1Timothy::
Now the end of the commandment is love out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned (1Tim.1:5):
love -> faith unfeigned
pure heart -> good conscience
And conscience good and pure
Abiding in pure light of God's word
God's word rolls out to us like a red carpet from the heart of God on which we approach Him while having fellowship with Him. It should then be no surprise that this walkway is utterly holy, how could it be otherwise (1Pet.1:14-16)?
If we blame God for sin---as an excuse to sin, then we are in error because only goodness and holiness proceed from God and His Son, the Word Made Flesh, in whom and by whose word we have been cleansed and born again (Ja.1:16-18).
As prophesied in the Old Testament, only those who have been created anew in Christ are made alive to God's living word by His indwelling Spirit---a prerequisite for an upright and acceptable walk before God (Ez.36:25-27).
Knowing God
Those who know God have entered the sheepfold of Christ and follow the voice of Christ in the scriptures; they will flee from words of false teachers (Jn.10:4-5,14).
Seeing God
Seeing, is a
biblical metaphor for understanding. In Luke, the encounter of two disciples with the resurrected Jesus is an object lesson of how we see God in Jesus as the Holy Spirit burns His word within our heart---bread and manna being biblical symbols of God's word (Luke 24:30-32).
1John 3:16-18
Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth (KJV).
Jesus let go of the glory He held in heaven in order to follow the Father's will for Him to serve and save the lost (Phil.2:5-7). And so Paul let go of the world's glory, in order to follow the will of Jesus (Phil.3:7-8).
Jesus from heaven's glory turned
That he might reach for me
,For Jesus, picking up His cross (Lk.9:23) meant doing the will of His heavenly Father (Lk.22:42), and so it does for us. God's will for us is to pick up our cross and serve Him by ministering his word to others; the gospel to the unsaved and words that build-up to other believers (Rom.12:1-16), even if it leads to persecution (1Pet.2:21) and death as it did for Peter (Jn.21:18-19).
"lay down our lives for the brethren": We are to present our bodies as a sacrifice of service to other believers which is our reasonable service to God (Rom. 12:1-16).
That I might worldly riches spurn
And reach for Him His sheep
1John 3:23
And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. (KJV)
The lighted path consists of a gate and a road. By believing in Jesus Christ we enter the gate of salvation; by loving one another we follow Christ in the Way---fulfilling His commandments.
And he that overcomes [the gate], and keeps my works unto the end [the road], to him will I give power over the nations [the crown] (Rev.2:26)
Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren [the gate], love one another fervently with a pure heart [the road] (1Pet.1:22).
When received by faith, the gospel truth purifies our soul and engenders a new
birth into God's family as evidenced by
the indwelling Spirit crying "Abba Father" with attending brotherly love among believers. In this verse, Peter exhorts believers to move beyond this 'baby love' to a mature fervent love. Click here for more about fervent love.
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness [the gate]; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation [the road] (Rom 10:10).
If a mouth confesses the salvation within the heart and is then combined
with the beautiful feet of Romans 10:15, the result is a light shining in the darkness.
..and I will show you my faith [the gate] by my works [the road] (Ja.2:18).
Those born by the word of God will show evidence of that word in works of love.
Twain are the calls, unto the saved
That lead to heav'n above;
Faith in Thy Son unlocks its gate,
Two, is Thy way of love.
1John 5:3
For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. (KJV)
There in the way are waters still;
I see my cross to bear.
Its burden, light, to do Thy will
Of works Thou hast prepared.
Grievous
The Greek word is barys (βαρuς) which means burdensome, severe or unsparing. For example, this word is used to describe the Mosaic law and the false teaching that Christians must adhere to that law (Matt.23:4).
The lighted path is a walk of obedience to God's word which God's word sums up as loving God by loving others, especially other believers (Jn.15:12, Gal.6:10). Jesus commands Peter to show his love for Him by feeding His flock---referring to ministering to believers the words of Jesus (John 21:15).
The restful yoke of Jesus
The Mosaic law was a yoke that held the Jews in bondage to shadows of the coming Messiah (sacrifices, circumcision,
feasts days, dietary laws etc). When the reality that cast the shadow appeared on earth, these ceremonial laws were abolished as acceptable service to God and replaced with a yoke of service to Jesus, for all who enter His rest (Gal .4:21-26, 5:1:1-2).
We are placed under the yoke of Jesus only after we have overcome the world in Him by faith and entered into His rest. We are not called to wearily attain salvation by works; we are born into God's family by faith (Matt.11:28-30, 1Jn.5:1-2,4).