“And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to everyone according to his work.” - Revelation 22:12
Kempton New Church

Week 1
Day 3

    Listen:

Piety and Charity
External Worship and the Worship of Life

That to do good is to worship the Lord, appears from the Lord’s words: Whoever hears these sayings of Mine and does them, I will liken him to a prudent man who built his house on the rock. (Matthew 7:24; NJHD 127)

What is the difference between a good man’s good deeds and a bad man’s good deeds?

Everyone who hears My words and does them, I will liken to a prudent man who built a house upon a rock; but he who hears My words and does not do them, I will liken to a foolish man who built a house on the sand, or on the ground without a foundation (Matt. 7:24–27; Luke 6:47–49).

NJHD 127. That to do good is to worship the Lord, appears from the Lord’s words (above).

HH 530:2. [A good man’s] justice and honorable behavior appear outwardly precisely the same as the justice and honor of natural men, and even of evil and infernal men, but in inward form they are wholly unlike. For evil men act justly and honorably solely for the sake of themselves and the world. And therefore if they had no fear of laws and penalties, or the loss of reputation, of honor, of gain, and of life, they would act in every respect dishonorably and unjustly, since they neither fear God nor any Divine law, and therefore are not restrained by any internal bond…. That inwardly they are such can be clearly seen from those of the same character in the other life, while everyone’s externals are taken away, and his internals in which he at last lives to eternity are opened…. As such then act without external restraints… they act insanely, and laugh at honor and justice.

HH 530:3. But those who have acted honorably and justly from regard to Divine laws, when their externals are taken away and they are left to their internals, act wisely, because they are conjoined to the angels of heaven, from whom wisdom is communicated to them.

From all this it can now be seen, in the first place, that when the internal man, that is, the will and thought, are conjoined to the Divine, the civil and moral life of the spiritual man may be wholly like the civil and moral life of the natural man….

HH 531. Furthermore, the laws of spiritual life, the laws of civil life, and the laws of moral life are set forth in the ten commandments of the Decalogue: in the first three the laws of spiritual life, in the four that follow the laws of civil life, and in the last three the laws of moral life. Outwardly the merely natural man lives in accordance with the same commandments in the same way as the spiritual man does… But in heart he denies the Divine, in worship acts the hypocrite, and when left to himself and his own thoughts laughs at the holy things of the church, believing that they merely serve as a restraint for the simple multitude.

HH 531:2. Consequently he is wholly disjoined from heaven, and not being a spiritual man he is neither a moral man nor a civil man. For although he refrains from committing murder he hates everyone who opposes him, and from his hatred burns with revenge, and would therefore commit murder if he were not restrained by civil laws and external bonds, which he fears; and as he longs to do so it follows that he is continually committing murder. Although he does not commit adultery, yet as he believes it to be allowable he is all the while an adulterer, since he commits adultery to the extent that he has the ability and as often as he has opportunity. Although he does not steal, yet as he covets the goods of others and does not regard fraud and wicked devices as opposed to what is lawful, in intent he is continually acting the thief…. Such is every man who denies the Divine, and who has no conscience derived from religion….

HH 531:3. It is not so with those who in heart have acknowledged the Divine, and in the actions of their lives have had respect to Divine laws, and have lived as fully in accord with the first three commandments of the Decalogue as they have in accordance with the others. When the externals of such are removed and they are let into their internals they are wiser than they were in the world; for entering into their internals is like entering from darkness into light, from ignorance into wisdom, and from a sorrowful life into a happy life, because they are in the Divine, thus in heaven….

Questions
  1. One useful way to explore our motives is to think of what we would do if we were not restrained by fear of penalties or the loss of honor and employment, such as if we could be invisible.
  2. The external life of people who are spiritual may look just like the life of people who are merely natural. What does this imply about how we treat other people?
  3. HH 531:2 provides a useful list for introspection in preparation for the holy supper. We could each consider which one of these we seem to be most susceptible to at this time in our lives.
  4. Notice how important it is to have a conscience derived from religion. Would you say that helping people develop a conscience is one of the main purposes of worship services? Do they help you?
  5. 5. Does the ending of HH 531 give you hope?
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