Posted in Atonement • Church • Clean & Unclean • Continuity & Discontinuity • Law • Love • Reading • Righteousness • Tradition

Righteousness

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In the late ’90’s as an elder at a Bible Church, I gave a message on the holy days of our Father listed in Leviticus 22.  I summarized the group of holidays by saying something along the lines of knowing and doing them was like knowing the bus schedule. If you want to ride the bus you have to know where and when it’s going to stop, then you have to be there at the proper place and time. I was trying to make the point that believers need to know all of the Bible and do what our Father’s Word tells us in order to figure out what behavior is expected of His children. If we ignore the parts of the Word that the Church (in general) says to ignore, then like the bridesmaids in the parable of the Ten Virgins we will not be as prepared for what is coming as we should be.

Afterwards, a young married man, schooled and hardened in the traditions of Church, was rather irritated at me and asked if I followed the entire Bible (especially the Law), and he didn’t, then was I holier (or more righteous) than he? It was a very telling question for several reasons. First was that salvation righteousness is not measured by actions but by grace through faith, meaning that nothing can be added to the sacrifice of Jesus for salvation. However, after one is saved then comes growth through the Word, which we call sanctification. So this man was confusing salvation righteousness with sanctification righteousness. Salvation righteousness is given to us by Jesus with no strings attached. Once salvation is gained then we exhibit the truth of our salvation by what we do and how we behave through the life-long sanctification process.

Second point of confusion for this young man was that yes, in sanctification it is possible for one individual to be more righteous than another. This is not to say that one is more “saved” than another, or that we measure our entrance into the Kingdom with right actions. It is simply that once we have our ticket for entry into the Kingdom of our Messiah we produce fruit in keeping with repentance and the love that was shown by His death on the cross.

To make an extreme analogy, it’s obvious that if I don’t murder someone, but another does, then I am more righteous than the murderer. I probably wouldn’t get an argument from anyone with that comparison. But let’s go a step further and say that if I don’t eat pork and someone else does, am I more righteous that he who does? The Scriptural answer is yes, but this answer is obscured by Church tradition taught as God’s Word in the Church. The tradition is that somehow the laws on eating pork were supposedly terminated by Jesus. This tradition is not in the Bible anywhere.

Isaiah 65:2–5 ESV. I spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, following their own devices; a people who provoke me to my face continually, sacrificing in gardens and making offerings on bricks; who sit in tombs, and spend the night in secret places; who eat pig’s flesh, and broth of tainted meat is in their vessels; who say, “Keep to yourself, do not come near me, for I am too holy for you.” These are a smoke in my nostrils, a fire that burns all the day.

Sadly, I was not able to straighten out the young man’s confusion at that time because I was working my way through my own confusion caused by the same false Church teachings. It takes a while to extricate one’s self from the twisted teachings of most of the Church traditions not found in the Bible. With consistent reading and applying all of the Word to life, it can be done, but it requires much self-sacrifice as we put off our old man (sinful flesh) and put on the new man (Ephesians 4:20-24).

Isaiah 66:15–17 ESV. “For behold, the Lord will come in fire, and his chariots like the whirlwind, to render his anger in fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire will the Lord enter into judgment, and by his sword, with all flesh; and those slain by the Lord shall be many. “Those who sanctify and purify themselves to go into the gardens, following one in the midst, eating pig’s flesh and the abomination and mice, shall come to an end together, declares the Lord.

So by the Word the answer is yes, those who practice the commands of Jesus such as avoiding the eating of pork (or mice), are in fact more righteous than those who don’t. Genuine followers of Jesus continue to practice all His righteous instructions in our sanctification process, building our houses on the strong foundation of all His Word.

 Luke 6:46–49 ESV. “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.”

Remember that the words of Jesus include those given at Sinai, and that the so-called New Testament was not formalized until about 200 A.D. Believers live all the words of Jesus at Sinai and after filled with the love of the Father and His Son in community with each other then and now. If this irritates those who wear only a facade of righteousness and rely on church tradition and membership or time in the choir for righteousness, so be it. The Words of Jesus are the Words of the Father, and all of them help build and strengthen our houses.

John 14:23–24 ESV. Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me. Salvation righteousness is a gift, and sanctification is the working out of that gift. The penalty of death for sin has been paid, so we are free to practice His Words without fear and in joyful dedication. Jesus is life, and if we grab hold of all His Words, that life will not be denied and will break out all over in our lives. Shalom.

Posted in Daily Living • Faith • Fruit • Healing • Law • Love • Reading

Counseling

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Back in the early ’80’s, I was buying a lot of books on subjects such as Systematic Theology, church history, hermeneutics (translating the bible), and biblical counseling. To round out my studies on counseling I purchased such books as Christian Psychiatry by Frank Minirth (not a good set of ideas) and Psychoheresy by Martin and Deidre Bobgan (excellent). The best book I found on counseling was Competent to Counsel by Jay Adams, an American Reformed (Presbyterian) pastor who passed away a few years ago but had a huge impact in the field of biblical counseling.

I have a lot of respect for Mr. Adams as one of my teachers, even though he never knew me. I learned much through his theology and bible perspectives.  In Competent to Counsel Jay presents the idea that anyone who is saved and knows the bible can counsel more effectively, and with more positive results, than any secular counselor. He contrasts Bible teachings in his nouthetic counseling method (a Greek word that means to admonish, counsel or confront) with the bankrupt beliefs of secular counseling such as Freudianism, Rogerianism, behaviorism (Skinner), or whatever.

The Bobgans over the years have moved away from some of what they originally taught to something they call “soul care” in their book Against Psychotherapy/For the Bible. They disagree with Mr. Adams, which might move them closer to my points in this article. I use some of what Mr. Adams taught, and his basic ideas are present in my own small attempts at counseling. There is a lot more to say on the subject of counseling and the content of these books, but with all of his (and others) excellent insights, he has a blind spot with regard to what was recorded for us prior to the Advent of Jesus.

Even the good leaders like Jay are trained to think that the Church (all of the organizations and para-church clubs) is correct, and any person, opinion, teaching or group that isn’t “Church” is a wrong. Examples of these philosophies of men are such ideas as, the Law has been fulfilled and eliminated by the cross, it’s only for Jews, and we don’t have to do it. Jay gets closer to the commands, but for him the Law is limited to a few of the Ten.

Most church teachers (nouthetic counselors or not) could offer a lot more help to people if they used the whole Bible. It’s not enough just to read the Bible (Luke 6:46-49); we need to do what we read in order to make the reading effective. Teaching and counseling from a few select passages is not a well-rounded approach to living the words of Jesus. The benefits and blessings of the Law as a lifestyle and discipleship process elude them. They also cannot see the use of the Law in counseling, or that the fact that it is missing in much of Church teaching contributes to the need for a lot of counseling. If more teachers taught the whole of the Bible in the first place, the need for counseling would be drastically reduced. It is my firm opinion, born out by much study and personal experience, that much of society’s ills are due to the lack of teaching (and modeling) the whole Bible, including the Law.

Adding the Bible material from before the Advent would help counselees in many, many ways. The Law is God’s version of a 12 step program. One of the biggest factors in this program, in keeping with love and the Spirit, is in admitting that the whole of the Word is objective and absolute truth. Teaching some of it piecemeal destroys the veracity and absolute truth of the Word. It should be taught and applied as a whole faith for, as Paul says, our one body.

The number one question after a person becomes a believer is, “What do I do now?” The stock answer usually given is, “Nothing. Jesus has done it all for you. Just read the Bible and go to church.” It is true that nothing can be added to the sacrifice of Jesus to obtain salvation, which is gained by grace through faith. This answer is lacking, however, because there are lots of things that the believer could be doing to strengthen their faith (and maybe avoid counseling).

Sanctification is what we do after salvation, and there is actually much that helps. The “do nothing” answer misses the wonderful, faith building exercises our Messiah gave His people at Mount Sinai to help “work out” our salvation. The Law gives us nice, concrete things to do for staying in contact with Jesus on a minute-by-minute basis, and to build our faith. Working through the Law with all of our heart, soul and strength is the best lifestyle and discipleship method ever devised, and is unequaled by anything the Church or man ever attempted.

Obedience to all of God’s commands is the path to present our bodies a living sacrifice (Romans 12), work out our salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12), produce the fruit of the Spirit, build up the body of Christ, put off our old self (Ephesians 4:22), and please our Lord and Master. The habits Jesus prescribes in His Laws are effective in counseling because they impact the soul directly and give us concrete actions. They help build faith and produce the fruit of the Spirit, which in turn reinforces our relationship with God and leads us out of problems.

Romans 8:7–8 ESV. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

Most know that in order to stop a bad habit we need to replace it with a good habit. Simply trying to stop a bad habit is very difficult, unless we have something better to put in its place. The Law Jesus gave at Sinai, clarified and reinforced with original interpretations and applications by Him as He walked in Israel as a man, gives us those good habits. They are useful for transforming and renewing our minds, so that we may discern the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect (Romans 12:3 paraphrased).

The first command of The Law is to love God with all our heart, mind and soul or strength. Love means to speak or act on behalf of someone, even if it doesn’t benefit us (or even if it hurts). Acting on God’s Laws hits us where we live – in our flesh. We are challenged point by point in daily life, deciding whose will is going to win. Do we choose God’s will, or our own? If we choose God’s will as revealed to us through obedience to all of His instructions, we might avoid many of the problems that take us to counseling in the first place. And they can definitely help heal us.

Shalom.

Posted in Balance • Bible • Clean & Unclean • Continuity & Discontinuity • Daily Living • Diet • Faith • Fruit • Law • Love • Paul Teachings • Reading • Sabbath • Worship

Guide to Following the Law

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Malachi 3:16–18 ESV. Then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another. The Lord paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord and esteemed his name. “They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.

So you’ve accepted the sacrifice of Jesus and are now saved. You read the New Testament and hear it taught in your congregation. But some of the teachings you hear seem overly complicated compared to what you read. Maybe you’ve begun to wonder why the Old Testament isn’t taught very much, except for some nifty stories and a few Psalms or Proverbs.

In your search for understanding, you’ve begun to see that when Paul says we are “grafted in” to an existing tree (or kingdom) and that there is only one body (Ephesians 4) with one Head, there is still something missing. You see the fragmentation of a multitude of churches, and none of them look like the Body in Acts chapter 2. Perhaps you’re becoming aware that the Church has not replaced Israel and, maybe, just maybe, that The Law is valid still for all believers. Hopefully, you’re thinking you’d like to do all of the teachings of Jesus, including the instructions He gave at Mount Sinai. You wonder what comes next and how His Law fits into your walk with our Messiah and God the Father. This short article is a beginner’s guide to implementing what you are beginning to understand is a beautiful gift from our Father and Messiah for living your new life to the fullest.

As you go, there are a few things to keep in mind. These principles are not ranked in importance because they are all important. The first is that the whole Book is the words of Jesus given to His servants. If He is God in the flesh (and He is), and if He is eternal (which He is) then He gave the Law to His people at Mount Sinai. The first five books are the foundation for all other books, and are built around the Ten Words given to Moses on stone tablets. Any other book or teaching must agree with those five. Other books have been added as God worked with His people to get His message across to sometimes stubborn people, but they all have to agree with the first five.

Another principle to remember is that each man (or woman) has to decide, within the guidelines of the whole, how to implement or apply the words to their own walk. It is very possible for each of us to find our own applications. You might understand something sooner than another person, so practice patience while encouraging one another to love and good works. It might take a while for you to figure out an application, and it might take other people a while too. The point is to keep trying with all your heart, soul and strength, and if you fail then confess and repent.

Galatians 5:22–26 ESV. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

A third principle is found in the fruit of the Spirit spoken of by Paul. It is important to avoid pork and shellfish, observe God’s holidays found in Leviticus 22 instead of those the world favors, not to make vows unless you intend to keep them (or just let your yes be yes), and so on. But remember we do these things because we are already saved and we love the Lord with all our heart, soul and strength, and not to gain salvation. The fruit of the Spirit goes right along with obedience to the instructions of Jesus (Torah means instruction), because obedience to the commands in love includes (and produces) the fruit of the Spirit. All of these things work together to increase our faith (trust and obedience) and connect us to each other and our Lord.

A fourth principle for our newfound life of obedience is that we take all of His Words seriously. His commands are full of life and the more we actually believe He means what He says the more life abundant we will have. If we have a take-it-or-leave-it attitude then perhaps we don’t really trust Him as we should, and some of the blessings of following Jesus will be reduced or missing.

The Law is sort of like a 12 step program for recovering from substance abuse. First, we take God seriously because of who He is. Next, start your application of the Law with simple things, like skipping bacon for breakfast or taking the Sabbath (Saturday) off. As you apply the commands, you will make decisions on a daily basis about His will. As you change your habits, like what groceries to buy, you keep the applicable parts of the Word at the front of your thoughts. If you need reminders, your like-minded brothers and sisters can help.

Resting on the Sabbath is full of blessings. This can be a little more difficult for someone, say for instance, in the medical field, and will take quite a bit of thought to implement. It can be rather strange to switch from Saturday being a day for chores to a day for spending time with the Lord and your family. But if we take the command seriously, like all of His Words, we will reap a harvest of blessings if we don’t give up. More fruit of the Spirit is important here as we wait for brothers or sisters to increase their faith and understanding in application.

Read through the whole Bible regularly and do what you read that applies to you. Keep reading daily, going from front to back and when you’re done, do it again. If you run across a section that doesn’t at first appear to have meaning or is without a seeming application to you, skip it and keep going. The next time you read through the Bible some of those sections will make more sense. As you read and do, our Father and Messiah are building a frame of reference for you to understand more as the frame of reference builds. God keeps adding to your understanding the more you read and do. Taking in His Words and doing them is like eating and drinking the body and blood of Jesus as He says in John 6:53 through 58, with a little explanation in verse 63 that His Words are spirit and life. Keep seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. Eat and drink the bread and wine of His Words to feed and sustain your soul. Enjoy.

Posted in Atonement • Continuity & Discontinuity • Daily Living • Law • New Testament • Old Testament • Reward • Sabbath • Tanakh

Doing

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Matthew 24:45–46 ESV. “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. (See also Luke 12:43; John 13:17)

Jesus gives words of encouragement to His followers, pointing to the time when He returns and finds His servants doing what He told them to do. He is speaking of the people He set over His household, so specifically that means leaders. Typically, feeding is a figure of speech for giving out the food of the Word. But “doing” extends to all of His servants too.

So what are the things we should be doing? Is it simply to have dinner with other members of our household, or is there more? We could include the “golden rule,” that is, treat others as you want to be treated. Or maybe our actions should be helping the poor, taking care of widows, and practicing justice. But is that all the Bible tells us? Well, Zechariah lists a couple more items.

Zechariah 7:8–10 ESV. And the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, saying, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart.”

So far, then, we are supposed to feed each other the Word, treat others as we want to be treated (which might also include showing kindness and mercy to one another), render true judgments, avoid oppression of people who have no defense such as widows, poor, orphans, or sojourners, and don’t devise evil against another in your heart. All those actions certainly are included in a servant’s duties to his or her Lord and Master. They are the practical outworking of redeemed people returning the love Jesus has for us. I have found, though, in other parts of God’s Word addressed to His people, that there are things we can include in the list we should be “doing.”

Isaiah 56:2 ESV. Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath, not profaning it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil.”

Apparently, he (or she) who “holds fast the Sabbath” (and keeps his hand from evil) is included for the person who wants to be doing what Jesus says when He returns. There are other the tasks included in a servant’s life so that we can be doing what Jesus told us to do when He returns. All of the instructions included are derived from what Jesus gave at Sinai (the Law or first Sermon on the Mount) and places like the (Second) Sermon on the Mount. Fasting on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) for instance is given expanded meaning by Isaiah.

Isaiah 58:6–7 ESV. “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?

Leaders in particular, our so-called “wise men,” have turned the Law of the Lord into a lie, by writings and teachings that reject many of His Laws. Instead, they preach ear-tickling, emotional and sentimental messages that only use God’s Word as a touchstone to launch rants. So they are not “feeding” like they should.

Jeremiah 8:8–9 ESV. “How can you say, ‘We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us’? But behold, the lying pen of the scribes has made it into a lie. The wise men shall be put to shame; they shall be dismayed and taken; behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord, so what wisdom is in them?

James, the brother of Jesus, leader of the congregation in Jerusalem, was not contradicting Paul in the book he wrote. He was not only in line with Paul but also Jesus, who gave all of the instructions we should be doing when He comes back. We are to be “doers” of the Word and not just hearers.

James 1:22–25 ESV. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

Remember that the books of the misnamed New Testament weren’t collected and called such until about 200 A.D., so “the word” James referred to was the equally misnamed Old Testament (see also such Scripture as John 10:35; 1 Corinthians 4:6). Other writings, such as those in the New Testament, had to conform to the Old Testament (a better name is Tanakh or Law, Prophets and Writings) or would be rejected as Scripture. We accept the New Testament as Scripture, but only as it conforms to the Law, Prophets and Writings.

Jesus didn’t start some new thing but stayed true to the words He spoke many times and in many ways throughout history. Our God and Messiah repeatedly called His people to “do” the things He commanded at Sinai instead of just “hearing.” His admonition for His servants to be doing what the Master commanded is right in line with everything He spoke through the prophets time after time. His commands to us are the same as they’ve always been.

Hosea 12:6 ESV. “So you, by the help of your God, return, hold fast to love and justice, and wait continually for your God.”

The phrase “hold fast to love and justice” is one of the many summary statements in the Bible for The Law. The commands given by Jesus at Mount Sinai were the epitome of love and justice, personified and certified by His teaching at the advent and by His sacrifice and resurrection.

Matthew 7:21–23 ESV. “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

Signs and wonders are not the task of a servant of our Messiah Yeshua. Our task is laid out here by the inverse of His statement to “depart from me you workers of lawlessness.” The clear meaning is that following His Law is not only the will of the Father but also will be the test for entering the kingdom of heaven. A little later in the book of Matthew, He says it again.

Matthew 12:50 ESV. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”

There is no special reward for our efforts to follow His will as expressed in all of His commandments (although there are many blessings). Salvation is granted by faith through grace, and following the Law is our lifestyle and discipleship method. We obey all of His commands because we love our God and Messiah and return some of this love by living like He wants us to live. Our Master lived the laws He commanded, and we copy Him as much as we are able with all our heart, mind and strength. When we are done with our labors and have entered into His kingdom, after He has ascended to the throne of David in Jerusalem, we might have some different rewards, but we will have just done our duty.

Luke 17:10 ESV. So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’ ”

Every word God speaks is by definition good, just, loving and holy. The humble servant does not hesitate to follow any of His words because faith is a combination of trust in God and obedience. The faithful person, recognizing God’s kingship and mercy, will happily submit to whatever our king and Master directs.

Don’t be fooled by the teachings of many in the Church who claim that the Church replaced Israel in God’s plans or that the Law has been eliminated by the death of Jesus. Scripture cannot be changed as our Messiah Yeshua said in John 10:35. Since the penalty for disobedience has been paid, there is no fear of death if we don’t understand a law or make a mistake in obeying. What will earn us the second death penalty (the Lake of Fire) is refusing the payment for our sin in the blood of Jesus. He has made us free from death if only we demonstrate our acceptance by obedience to all He commands with all of our heart. If we refuse the blood and try to gain our own righteousness by earning His gift, there is no other acceptable payment for our sin.

Ecclesiastes 12:12–13 ESV. My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh. The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.

Shalom

Posted in Authority • Daily Living • Hermeneutics • Hypocrisy • Law • New Covenant • New Testament • Old Covenant • Old Testament • Prophecy • Tradition • Translational Bias

Burden

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Jeremiah 23:33–36 ESV. “When one of this people, or a prophet or a priest asks you, ‘What is the burden of the Lord?’ you shall say to them, ‘You are the burden, and I will cast you off, declares the Lord.’ And as for the prophet, priest, or one of the people who says, ‘The burden of the Lord,’ I will punish that man and his household. Thus shall you say, every one to his neighbor and every one to his brother, ‘What has the Lord answered?’ or ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ But ‘the burden of the Lord’ you shall mention no more, for the burden is every man’s own word, and you pervert the words of the living God, the Lord of hosts, our God.”

God tells Jeremiah about false prophets in chapter 23, and focuses on the term “burden of the Lord” that they used. Apparently, the false ones would use this term when they were prophesying words that God did not give them. In the process, they would pervert the actual words spoken by the Lord, using lying dreams. Real prophets could use the term (see Zechariah) but not people.

The words of the living God they perverted were those of the covenant made at Mount Sinai through Moses as Jeremiah recorded starting in chapter 11. We can apply these statements to anyone who claims to speak for God or who says they teach His Word yet perverts those words into meanings they don’t possess. They don’t have to say “the burden of the Lord” to speak falsely. The burden is “every man’s own word” which means the same as doing (or saying) what is right in their own eyes.

 God says, “Let him who has my word speak my word faithfully” (23:28). If we don’t speak His Word with His meanings or applications then we are not speaking faithfully. To speak faithfully is to speak His Words of the covenant instead of twisting them to dismiss the real meaning. If we do not speak faithfully, we are the burden of the Lord and He will take steps to punish. We may not see a direct connection to our faithlessness but there will be a connection nonetheless.

Labeling sections of His Word as “old testament” and “new testament” (or just old and new) are the start of becoming the burden of the Lord. He didn’t label them thus, and neither should we. His Words are not split up in that way. Teaching that the crucifixion changed that which cannot be changed is another way of becoming the burden of the Lord. Creating a “new thing” called the Church which then grabs authority for itself in changing the Word continues the burden and makes it worse. Other burdens are in splitting the Word into “Jewish” and “Gentile” sections, insisting that if people disagree with the Church they are heretics and cast out of congregations.

Hosea has a lot to say about priests and prophets who destroy people for “lack of knowledge,” which is the “law of your God.” He doesn’t use the term “burden,” but it’s clear that God has the same issue of a burden as described in Jeremiah 23 (and other places).

Hosea 4:6 ESV. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.

The burden in Hosea is the same people who pervert the Word of the Lord delivered by Moses spoken of by Jeremiah. The leaders of Israel are the ones who are supposed to be living and teaching God’s Word and were failing to do either. They became the burden, and led the people of Israel to become a burden also.

It’s not just the priests and prophets of way-back-when either. Anyone at any time that teaches us to forget the Law of our God fits right into the category of burden. People are still destroyed for lack of knowledge of the Words of God, as those words are perverted into ear-tickling messages of peace when there is no peace without all of His words and His exact meaning.

Jeremiah 8:8, 11 ESV. “How can you say, ‘We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us’? But behold, the lying pen of the scribes has made it into a lie…They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.

Jesus had much to say to the scribes (lying pens) and other hypocritical leaders of the Church. Yes, I know I’m conflating the Jews with the Church but it’s obvious they’re the same lying organizations. Jesus calls “traditions” that contradict His Words as false, which puts them in the same category as “burden.”

Matthew 15:3–6 ESV. He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God,” he need not honor his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God.

You can also refer to Luke 7 for a second view of these types of conversations.

Mixing false traditions with the actual Word of God is another way the lying pens of the scribes turn His Words into burdens. Paul in 1 Corinthians 11:2 and 2 Thessalonians 2:15 says something about traditions he delivered to those people, but we have to go by the rest of his words also as he shoots down traditions that only vaguely resemble God’s traditions.

Colossians 2:8, 18 ESV. See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ…Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels…  

Human tradition which follows the elemental spirits of the world are to be avoided, just like we avoid the false teachings of rabbis, pastors and priests. Not all of these leaders speak only lies, but mix a little of God’s Word with a whole lot of burdens never taught by our Messiah Yeshua or our Father in heaven. We are encouraged to ignore those that depart from the Truth. Shalom.

Posted in Church • Daily Living • Law • New Covenant • Old Covenant • Promise The

Covenant

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The word “covenant” is mentioned in the ESV Bible about 325 times. Sometimes it refers to the rainbow after the flood (Genesis 9:13), sometimes to the Abraham covenant in Genesis 15 and the confirmation of the covenant by circumcision in Genesis 17. Other times it is referring to a covenant between two people such as Abraham and Abimelech (Genesis 21). Sometimes too, there was a covenant even when the word isn’t used, such as the covenant in the Garden between Adam and God for avoiding one particular fruit (and thereby avoiding death). But mostly it’s the covenant made between God and Israel at Mount Sinai.

A covenant is a legal agreement with stipulations for performance by each party and penalties for breaking it, like a contract. However, if there are no stipulations for one party, then it is a “promise” because there is no legal enforcement for that party. For instance, the rainbow covenant with Noah after the flood not only doesn’t have any penalties for God if He didn’t perform His part, there is no way to enforce penalties on God anyway. He just said He would do something, and put His bow in the clouds as a sign of His commitment.

The covenant with Israel at Sinai did have stipulations for both parties. Israel was to follow the terms of the covenant and receive blessings, or break it and experience curses. In exchange, God would be their God and Shepherd, leading, protecting and blessing them in every way. By that point, God had already demonstrated His abilities in saving, protecting and blessing Israel in many powerful ways. All Israel had to do was stay on the path and do what God had laid out for them. He would live in their midst and blessings would flow as they followed all the terms of their side of the covenant. However, they refused many times and in many ways, leading to the curses warned about by God and their ultimate expulsion from the Land.

Before allowing Babylon to defeat Judah (the ten northern tribes called Israel had already been defeated by the Assyrians about a hundred years before) Jeremiah is told by God that the banishment would last 70 years and that there would be a new covenant between Him and Israel.

Jeremiah 31:31–34 ESV. “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

Ezekiel, a contemporary of Jeremiah, also speaks of this new covenant (Ezekiel 11:19) along with giving the united Israel a heart transplant (also 36:26) and a new spirit. Part of this new covenant includes the God’s Laws written on the new heart, and all will obey. Jesus tells His disciples during the Passover dinner before His crucifixion that one of the cups of wine they share is the realization of this new covenant.

Luke 22:20 ESV. And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

The phrase “new covenant” used by Jesus here is καινὴ διαθήκη (transliterated kainόs diathēkē) meaning literally a refreshed agreement. Perhaps we could even use the more modern “new and improved” phrase. It is not new in the sense of something that hasn’t existed before and is now newly created. Jesus was referring to Jeremiah (notice He didn’t have to explain it to the disciples) and the power of His blood to write His Laws (including those given by Him on Mount Sinai) on a new heart of flesh.

The “new thing” called The Church, created by imagination about two to three hundred years A.D., has hijacked the application of the new covenant for itself, but has made it mean something other than what our Messiah intends. The Church of course is all the groups and organizations claiming to be part of this new thing, not just one particular group. Their interpretation of the new covenant is anti-Jewish (though God says it is between Him and Israel) and completely ignores the texts that speak explicitly of the terms. Their leaders say that the death of Jesus eliminated the Law and they don’t have to follow God’s Words anymore. In place of the Law, they have created all sorts of vague, ear-tickling and feelings-based guidelines focusing on doing what is right in their own eyes rather than the literal Law written on a new heart of flesh.

The New Testament, falsely named by the Church, is neither a covenant nor the new covenant. None of the collected books use the term “new covenant” except for the words of Jesus (also recorded in 1 Corinthians 11:25), an application by Paul in 2 Corinthians 3:6 to believers as ministers of the new covenant, and several mentions by the author of the book of Hebrews quoting Jeremiah. Hebrews speaks of the “old covenant” being obsolete, not because the Law was eliminated (Jesus said Scripture cannot be broken John 10:35) but because it was on the outside chiseled on stone tablets, instead of on the inside written on a new heart of flesh.

Believers enter in to this new covenant and are given a heart transplant in order to follow all the instructions of our Father and our Messiah in love and spirit. Jesus died a horrible death and was resurrected as the ultimate and defining act of love. Accepting His sacrifice and His lordship is to become part of His household and kingdom along with living exactly as He directs with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. If we falter, we have an advocate in heaven who intercedes for us, so we confess our failure and work out our salvation with fear and trembling. All praise and thanks to the One who has set us free from sin and death to serve the God of light, life and love.

Shalom.

Posted in Church • Daily Living • Hypocrisy • Judaism • Law • Political • Tradition

Cultural Appropriation

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A phrase that is thrown around quite a bit in the last few years is “cultural appropriation.” It means to take something such as a tradition or food or a style of dress from a different culture other than your own, and use it or practice it as if it belongs to you. It is used as a negative.

Cultural appropriation can be as simple and inoffensive as using a Yiddish word or eating Mexican food. Or it can be more involved (and to some more offensive) practices such as hair styles with dreadlocks or dressing with lederhosen or a dashiki. You might be thinking, “The Church has members that wear sombreros or celebrate Cinco de Mayo and are not Mexican, but so what? That’s hardly cause for alarm.” Except a hat or a holiday are not the types of cultural appropriation this article (or video) is about.

The Church, unfortunately, is guilty of culturally appropriating in a big way. By Church, I mean all the groups (associated with each other or not) that claim to be “partisans of the Christ.” They may have different styles of a service and some differences in their so-called “statements of faith,” but they are essentially all the same. They are all built on the same basic framework of cultural appropriation. Let me explain further.

Way back when (about a hundred years after the apostles were all dead – wasn’t that convenient), those who called themselves Christian decided, through a long process, to reject the bulk of the Bible as applying to them. They “transitioned” away from what the world told them were Jewish things. Church fathers created a new thing called “the Church” and said that it was God’s intended goal instead of Israel, because “the Jews” crucified the Messiah (it was the Romans with Jewish leader incitement). Then, in keeping with that split decision, they deliberately mistranslated the parts they appropriated in order to justify their decision to create the new thing.

These and other philosophies of men contradicted Paul’s declaration in Ephesians that there is only one Body, one Faith, and one Messiah. But the church fathers kept using cultural appropriation to develop the new thing anyway. In the process, they built a false god they call Jesus but who barely resembles our biblical Messiah as they chose those parts of the Bible they liked and discarded the others. Like Jeroboam with his replacement golden calves (2 Kings 17), the Church has appropriated a little bit of the biblical Jesus to create a false idol who preaches against God’s unbreakable covenant (John 10:35).

On the contrary, the whole message of the real Jesus is right in line and a continuation of the whole message of the Father, including what they call The Law. “And Scripture cannot be broken.”

John 10:34–38 ESV. Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’? If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be broken— do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”

Instead of culturally appropriating a few pieces of the Word to build a non-Jewish organization with a savior that only vaguely resembles the biblical Jesus, believers enter into the existing eternal kingdom of our Messiah by grafting. Grafting is the process of connecting parts of different trees or plants together. We are connected to the existing olive tree of God’s kingdom, as Paul put it in Romans 9 through 11. We become part of the body of Christ and live in His house where His loving rules or instructions are life and discipleship. We do what is right in our Father’s eyes.

Groups that are part of the Church and are called Messianic say they believe in Jesus as the Messiah, but also want to follow standard Jewish traditions. In other words, they are also “culturally appropriating,” from Judaism. Many in these groups are actually of Jewish descent, and wanting to keep the traditions is perhaps understandable (although much of Judaism is, like the Church, not biblical – see: the gospels). However, the philosophies of men in the Messianic section of the Church (yes, they are still part of the Church) promote the idea that somehow Jews know the best in how to follow God. So, many of the so-called Messianic congregations try to incorporate as much “Jewish” theology and practice as they can.

The problem is, according to the Bible, most of those in Israel in general have always been just as stiff-necked and stubborn as the Church when it comes to ignoring God’s plain instructions and making up things outside the Word of God. They also culturally appropriated from the nations around them, including their idols. It’s why they got booted out of the Land several times. It’s also the reason they and the Church are part of the “Great Prostitute” of Revelation 17.

The culture that believers desire to appropriate is God’s. His culture is laid down for us all through the Bible and includes what some call the law, given by Jesus, clarified and reinforced by the teachings of the apostles. The whole of Scripture is given to believers for a lifestyle and discipleship method. At Sinai, God (Jesus) set up the instructions for the way He wanted His kingdom to operate. On the arrival of Jesus in the flesh, He clarified the instructions He had already given, clearing away the trash of men’s wrong interpretations and opinions obscuring the plain meaning. It is a flat-out lie that Jesus “fulfilled the Law” and terminated it.

All nations will be judged for refusing to “culturally appropriate” all of God’s Words, including what some negatively refer to as The Law or the Law of Moses.

Jeremiah 25:15, 26-27 ESV. Thus the Lord, the God of Israel, said to me: “Take from my hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it…all the kings of the north, far and near, one after another, and all the kingdoms of the world that are on the face of the earth. And after them the king of Babylon shall drink. Then you shall say to them, Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Drink, be drunk and vomit, fall and rise no more, because of the sword that I am sending among you.”  

Shalom.

Posted in Adultery • Balance • Church • Comfort • Fruit • Gospel • Law • Love • Messianic Movement • New Covenant • New Testament • Old Testament • Translational Bias

Body Search

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It’s not a title of a movie mystery. I’m not going to write about police officer’s arrest techniques. No gloved hands are going to be used in this search. The Body for which I’m searching in modern times is the one presented in the Bible. Luke helps me out with the search for the Body by describing how it acts.

Acts 2:42–47 ESV. And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

According to this description, the Body of Christ devotes itself to the apostle’s teaching and fellowship, taking meals together and praying with one another. We can get an idea of the composition of the apostle’s teaching by reading the letters they wrote. For instance, Paul (though not one of the twelve) tells believers not to go beyond what is written.

1 Corinthians 4:6 ESV. I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another.

Their letters weren’t written until the late ’60’s A.D. or so, and they weren’t collected and called the New Testament by the Church until about 200 A.D. So Paul is commanding the teaching of the misnamed Old Testament. The apostle’s teaching from the Law, Prophets and Writings (called the Tanakh or Torah) was energizing the actions of the Body at that time. Peter adds that false prophets and teachers from among you will secretly bring in destructive heresies, and through their sensuality, the way of righteousness is blasphemed (2 Peter 2:2).  He continues:

2 Peter 2:20–21 ESV. For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them.

The “way of righteousness” from which they will turn back, he says, is the “holy commandment” delivered to them. The holy commandment is also known as the Tanakh, which includes the new covenant or the law written on a soft heart of flesh (Hebrews 8:8-12 quoting Jeremiah 31:31-34 and Ezekiel 11:19 and 36:26). Peter’s part of the Body of Christ exhibited this new covenant.

Obviously, “all who believed” who were in the Body at the time of Peter were behaving very differently than those in churches we see today. Given the difference in behavior between the believers back then and churches now, we might be led to think the Body doesn’t exist in the present. But it’s still around, it’s just scattered here and there, and mostly represented by individuals. Believers who are devoted to the apostle’s teaching (the Torah, meaning “instruction”) have been silenced or driven out of most organizations due to the twisted, ear-tickling teachings of what Jesus (and Paul) called ravenous wolves in sheep’s clothing.

Matthew 7:15 ESV. “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.

Acts 20:29–30 ESV. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.

2 Timothy 4:3 ESV. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,

Those of the Body who really want to follow all of the apostle’s teachings on God’s precious, loving Words cannot associate with these ravenous wolves in sheep’s clothing. If the Body member tries to stay in a congregation or organization that is not following the new covenant, but insists on following it themselves, they are labeled divisive people and asked to leave.

By the time I was 40, I had been a part of about 15 different churches in 10 denominations (and been asked to leave on occasion), so I’ve had quite a bit of experience. I was a youth leader twice, an elder in a Bible church once, and taught adult Sunday school. For about the last 25 years we have not gone at all, anywhere, mostly because we aren’t allowed. It would be nice if we could find a place, but we “gather together” with our family and just follow the Word. We’ve found closeness with each other, our Father and Messiah, which is lacking in most congregations anyway. I also find that I’m much more able to get along with those of different beliefs or even non-belief than I did when I was simply a churchgoer, even if they can’t get along with me. We are part of the Body without attending a church filled with ravenous wolves.

Many, many churches are biased towards doing what is right in their own eyes. One Messianic group of which we were part tried hard to institute and keep non-biblical Jewish traditions such as using a pointer to read sections of the Bible in Hebrew and parading around a Torah scroll in their services. But one of the leaders went to his wife (who was not genetically Jewish) on Yom Kippur and started a divorce in order to marry a genetically Jewish woman. The rest of the leadership did not ask him to leave the congregation, as they should have according to Scripture. Oddly, the new marriage didn’t last either and neither did the congregation.

Isaiah 59:14 ESV. Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far away; for truth has stumbled in the public squares, and uprightness cannot enter.

Another group we were with for a while decided that the Word (the Law) was only for Jews. Gentiles could follow if they wanted but were then treated as second-class members. Their “first fruits” were not from the Bible. A third group teaches “one law” for everyone, but at the same time says that the “Hebrew perspective” (read, “bias”) is the primary way to translate and apply the Word. Instead of a resource for Torah, they prioritize Jewishness and expel people like us.

Self-titled Christian congregations all have a range of negative attitudes against God’s Word (especially the Law) and Body members are encouraged to find other congregations if they don’t toe the line, which was the case with Calvary Chapels. A similar congregation allowed a witch in and found out later she was having intimate relations with the married pastor. Still another so-called Messianic group allowed a married pedophile adulterer to stay in the congregation which caused many to leave.

1 Corinthians 5:2 NASB95. You have become arrogant and have not mourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed would be removed from your midst.

In another instance my family was disinvited by the pastor of a community church (after one of his people invited us) because he said we were “all about rules and regulations” (the irony was lost on him). He only teaches the ear-tickling parts of the Word and did not regard the Bible as absolute truth. Then there was the Vineyard pastor (formerly a part of Youth With A Mission) who said in a sermon that he wanted to “throw theology out of the church.” Since the word “theology” means “God’s Word,” I guess he was successful because no one in that church (or many others) teaches the whole of the Word the way God commands.

1 Corinthians 5:6–8 ESV. Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Congregations “doing what is right in their own eyes” as the Bible negatively puts it, do not follow all of the Word and therefore do not love God and do not act like the Body in Acts 2:42-47. Instead, they love comfort and ear tickling. It is a loving act to “remove the evil from your midst” for the sake of repentance, and to welcome the formerly evil person back in the event they change their ways. Allowing a witch, homosexual, or adulterer to stay and continue their sinful, destructive behavior is not a loving act (Romans 1:18-32).

Romans 1:32 ESV. Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

Apparently, we would have to approve of those destructive lifestyles to be accepted. Our family doesn’t believe or conform to these lifestyles, so we just aren’t perfect enough (in their systems) to attend any modern congregation. It’s a sad state of affairs when Body members who insist on following all of God’s loving instructions are the ones who are cast out of these congregations, while unrepentant sinners are allowed to stay. Right is wrong and wrong is right, and so people of the Body of Christ find themselves homeless. But we won’t be homeless forever. God promises those who are faithful to His Word that we will receive the gift of eternal life and have a home in His Kingdom forever.

Mark 10:29–30 ESV. Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.”

Those of you who are part of the Body, having discovered that all of the Word is for all believers and are trying your best to hang on to it and follow with all your heart, soul and strength, be encouraged. This world will not last, and those who disdain to repent and obey the whole of His loving gospel are on the way to a different place other than His Kingdom.

2 Thessalonians 1:5–8 ESV. This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering— since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

Shalom

Posted in Bible • Church • Continuity & Discontinuity • Daily Living • Hypocrisy • Isaiah • Law • Translational Bias

Word

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The word “word” is used frequently in modern times as an equivalent for the word “truth.” One might say “truth” as an agreement for someone’s statement of an apparent truth. Interesting considering that God’s Word is the original and final “truth.” Jesus said it best.

John 17:17–19 ESV. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

Believers are sanctified by the truth of God’s Word; all of God’s Word, whenever spoken at any time and to any audience.

However, most who say they “believe Jesus” do not regard His Word as truth. They pick and choose what they want to do and ignore the parts they don’t like. One of the latest examples is a part of the Lutheran Church (the ELCA or Evangelical Lutheran Church in America). They have decided that certain parts of the Bible are “harmful and patriarchal.” This type of belief is no surprise considering that the Church as a whole is not in the Bible in the first place, and has been chopping up the Word into pieces using only those pieces they like since about 200 A.D.

The Church (all of it, not just the Lutherans) has consistently preached a hollow Jesus with philosophies of men in place of much of His teaching.

There would be many blessings if we could say “word” to a pastor’s or rabbi’s teaching. But we can’t because most of them do not speak the truth, and so the blessings go wanting and hearers are sinking in a sea of feel-good messages without the substance of God’s Word. They’re not delivering solid help for daily living by properly explaining all of what God offers.

Isaiah 10:1–3 ESV. Woe to those who decree iniquitous decrees, and the writers who keep writing oppression, to turn aside the needy from justice and to rob the poor of my people of their right, that widows may be their spoil, and that they may make the fatherless their prey! What will you do on the day of punishment, in the ruin that will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help, and where will you leave your wealth?

The word “iniquitous” (or iniquity) is “evil,” “false,” or “wicked.” Iniquity is literally “lawlessness” or “no law.” So the sentence could read “Woe to those who speak evil, wicked, false and lawless pronouncements.” When the words of a teacher are without or against God’s Word, including His Laws (or instruction), they are evil, false, and wicked. No Law means no truth, since all of God’s Words are truth. If we want to say “word” or truth, teachers need to give us something to work with, and actually speak the truth of God’s Word.

Isaiah again records a word from God about those who do not relay His Words like they should.

Isaiah 29:9–10 ESV. Astonish yourselves and be astonished; blind yourselves and be blind! Be drunk, but not with wine; stagger, but not with strong drink! For the Lord has poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes (the prophets), and covered your heads (the seers).

This is on the heels of the admonition from God about leaders and teachers who refuse to take in and adapt to God’s Word given by the prophets and the Law through Moses. They are convicted of so many refusals to speak and do God’s will that they are like the very young who have to be taught in tiny little pieces, so He will teach them by the lips of foreign peoples.

Isaiah 28:10–13 ESV. For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little.” For by people of strange lips and with a foreign tongue the Lord will speak to this people, to whom he has said, “This is rest; give rest to the weary; and this is repose”; yet they would not hear. And the word of the Lord will be to them precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little, that they may go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.

Then Isaiah really drops the hammer about the cause of the lack of teaching the whole Word. It is due to worship that is not in the heart and is only evident on the lips. In other words, they say they follow God but do not teach all of God’s Word nor do they actually act on them.

Isaiah 29:13–14 ESV. And the Lord said: “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men, therefore, behold, I will again do wonderful things with this people, with wonder upon wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.”

Though this is in the so-called Old Testament, it is not only quoted by Jesus in the New, He identifies these as hypocrites who leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men. A hypocrite speaks one way and acts differently. Jesus directs His comments to the leaders of Israel (at the time of Isaiah), but they are also directed at leaders of today who say “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus” like He’s a lucky rabbit’s foot, then ignore and refuse to follow all the words of Jesus so evident throughout the Bible. They say one thing (believe in Jesus) but do what’s right in their own eyes.

Mark 7:6–8 ESV. And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, “ ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”

We are overloaded with hypocrites in modern times. Time to repent and just do what He says.

Word to The Word.

Posted in Daily Living • Gospel • Healing • Hypocrisy • Relevance • Righteousness

Salvation

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A biblical definition of salvation starts with the simple idea of rescue from God’s judgment. He will judge the world and every person in it for sin, but He also made a way out by providing the sacrifice of His only begotten son. And according to many church teachings, all you have to do is believe, say it once, and you’re saved. These teachings are derived from sections of the Word such as what Paul writes in Romans (using Deuteronomy 30:14).

Romans 10:8–13 ESV. But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

I say “derived” because most of the teachings just use Scripture as a touchstone and then soar off into the atmosphere in a gaseous cloud. What would ground the teachings better is if they used more of the Bible instead of the gas of dreamy opinions.

There’s biblically much more to belief than just saying “I believe” or raising the hand and going forward. A person who believes in the heart is not just thinking it sounds good; his belief transforms his entire life with an acceptance of all that God imparts to us. It reorients goals of living and connects the soul to our eternal God with all of His glory, especially as to how truly magnificent and powerful is the sacrifice of our Messiah. In return, it seems a small thing to bring the light of all of God’s instructions for us into every corner of our formerly dark lives.

Matthew 7:21–23 ESV. “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

Those who wear the wool coverings of a sheep yet do not follow God’s Law (actually His instructions), what Jesus calls “workers of lawlessness,” will have to depart from Him. If they do such “mighty works” as casting out demons or prophesying, they will be told “I never knew you.” This applies to all those so-called “evangelists” that put on shows of healing and raising from the dead (whether actual or not) yet teach that all you need to do is raise your hand and go forward. Sorry, but that is not salvation.

Truly saved people give over their lives and everything they do and own to God, because it is the least we can do (and He owns it all anyway). We sell everything we have, inside and out, to gain the Kingdom of Heaven.

Matthew 13:44–46 ESV. “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.

In salvation, we discover a kingdom that is worth more than anything this world can offer. It is so valuable that whatever we can sell is worth it. Our lives are reoriented towards bringing as much of the kingdom as we can buy. We gain fellowship with our God and our Messiah Jesus the Christ. Together they are the source of life, light, love and blessings that cannot be measured.  Our purchase of the kingdom includes an initial return in the form of God’s Word lived out wholly and completely day to day. This is much more than raising a hand and going forward. That might be the start, but it is certainly not the end.

Hebrews 6:1–3 ESV. Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits.

A real salvation moves from the elementary doctrines listed here to maturity. The mature person constantly practices, learns and grows in the faith. We “work out our salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12). As James says, faiths without works is dead, and even the demons believe, but their works are not of God. In other words, they do not obey God though they “believe.”

James 2:18–19 ESV. But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!

Obedience to all of God’s Word is the difference between someone who merely believes, and one who has been saved. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. Knowledge of God comes from His Word. All of His Words. Any word that He chooses to speak, including His life-giving Laws.

Romans 10:16–17 ESV. But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

Isaiah 1:16–17 ESV. Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause. Shalom