Wednesday, February 20, 2008

...But I'm not Jewish. A word or two on Hebrew Roots

A very good friend of mine recently told me, "I have a few questions about what you guys believe."
Well, I have learned to cringe when a sentence starts out like that, but he has been my friend for many years, so I assumed it was safe. "OK," I told him, "Let it rip - you're not going to offend me."
He went on to ask me a few questions about Messianic, or Hebrew Roots
teaching. After I answered his questions, using only the scriptures, he made a statement that I have learned to get used to. He said, "But I'm not Jewish."

"I'm not Jewish either" was my response. Coincidently, when you start observing Torah, you start looking Jewish. Why? Because the Jews who "look Jewish" are observing Torah too. They don't simply put on the tassels and eat kosher because they want to look Jewish - they look Jewish because they are obeying God's commandments.


Stay with me on this, because this is a very misunderstood concept in the bible - God's people should obey God's commandments. He tells us this in His Word numerous times. He even goes as far as to give us blessings and long life by obeying them. Jesus said it, John said it in 1 John, and God said it repeatedly throughout the Old Testament. "If you love Me, keep my commandments."

Jesus is the "Torah made flesh."

If you don't believe me, look at it from a logical standpoint. If we separate His Laws into Jewish and non Jewish, where would you start and stop? Is thou shall not kill a "Jewish" commandment? Of course not! Yet it stands right next to "Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy" and we are taught to believe that this one is no longer applicable to us.


Some people think that there are "moral, civil and ceremonial" laws. I challenge you to find that distinction in God's Word - it is not in there. In fact, Jesus tells us that all of the commandments hinge on love. As my good friend Tim Terry would say, "wouldn't that make them all moral commandments?" I believe so. The fact that His instruction is based on love becomes evident when you start to read the Torah as God's instructions. They are instructions from a loving Father.
For example, if I tell my son not to play with the soccer ball in the house, he may think of it as just a silly rule from his archaic dad. As his father though, I have good reasons to tell him tnot to do it. If I never tell him the reasons, is the rule still valid? Of course it is. The fact that I am his father validates the rule. I know the value of the antiques on the mantle, and the cost of lamp shades. I may choose to explain it, and I may not. Either way, I am his father, and I have given him the rule because I love him, and don't want a painting to fall off of the wall and crack him on the head.
Now, lets say that his siblings hear me tell him to stop. Are they accountable to it? Common sense should tell them that if they want to please me, they should stop play with the ball in the house. If you are a parent you have gone through this before. Our Father in heaven goes through it every day.

If the commandments of the "Old Testament" are "for the Jews," then I'll ask you, Is it OK to marry your aunt, or step mother? Is it OK to disrespect your parents? Have sexual relations with a goat or camel? The answer is of course no, but if the ideological argument is that "those things were given to the Jews" then we, as gentiles are exempt aren't we?

We have been taught that the 613 commandments of Torah are for the Jew, yet we adhere to most of them, under the guise that they are moral laws. Who is to say that wearing
Tzitzis (tassels, or fringes - see photo above, from Israel Today) on the four corners of your garments is not a moral commandment? Is it cultural? If your answer is yes then again, I will challenge you to find that distinction in scripture. You will soon find that it is not in there. The only cultural aspect of that law is the fact that it is not "culturally correct" to wear them according to the church.
It is my advice to be very careful when separating the promises of God into Jewish and non Jewish. That sort of thinking, when followed through with, will leave you outside of the bounds of the "New Covenant" and exempt you from the teaching of many books in the bible. After all, if we are not, as gentiles, supposed to adhere to the things that God gave the Jews, then we can not be part of the New Covenant at all because it was given to the Jews - more specifically, the house if Israel and the house of Judah (Jeremiah 31:31). Nor can you in good conscience leave the books of James and the epistle to the Hebrews in the New Testament. They were both given to the Jews and not to the gentiles.
See the problem?Are you one of God's people? We all know that the Jews are God's chosen people, but never forget that Jesus said, "remember, you did not choose Me, but I have chosen you." You, if you believe in Jesus the Messiah, are one of God's chosen people.
I'll leave you with a few questions:
How can it be "moral" to reject even the smallest, most "irrelevant" of His instructions? Are they not His instructions? Does He have to explain to us why he gave them?

He already told us why He gave them. He gave them because He loves us.

Think about it.


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