The whole world seems to be going high-def crazy. All TVs sold these days are HD-compatible, most are true HDTVs, complete with HDMI switches and cables and the whole nine yards.
Torah cornered the market on high definition back in the days of Moshe. Every Bible is host to the HDTorah, if only we were willing to read and obey it. Granted, there are the Ten Commandments, but beyond that, there are the 613 points of Mosaic law that accompanied them. These points cover every important aspect of life as it was mean to be lived by Jews in the land of Israel, a model for what society should be if it obeys and fears the G-d of Abraham, Issac and Jacob.
There is one myth that each person is expected to obey at 613 points; but that’s not even possible! Not because Adonai’s standards are too high, but because they are too high-definition.
What do I mean? Well, some of those 613 point are intended only for the Aaronic priesthood. Some are only intended for men; some only for women. Others are specific to other such subgroups.
This is the burden Yeshua offers. No 56 volumes of rabbinic interpretation and Oral Torah; no modern Christian legalism about avoiding the works of Mark Twain and J.K. Rowling. No make-it-up-as-you-go.
Instead, the messianic life offers a very high-def picture of God’s will for our lives; and a burden far easier than most legalistic religious leaders would burden us with. And in a way, easier to obey than the complex, subjective moral hoops Torah-hating Christian preachers of “grace without consequences” would have us follow.
Troubles never happen when we are safe, healthy, happy and completely able to deal with them. If that were the case, they wouldn’t be any trouble at all.
Tonight, I received a call from my dad. It seems my mom, who survived a stroke in August, is back in the hospital, this time with a very low heart rate and in need of a pacemaker.
This comes at a very bad time, as such things always seem to; both my wife and I currently have been working for temp companies and our current assignments both ended within a couple days of each other. Neither of us has found new assignments and so money is extremely tight right now; in fact, if at least one of us doesn’t start a new job soon, our ability to meet February rent could be in doubt. Even the best budgeting software can’t help you out when there’s no money coming in.
Yikes, right? In and of itself, that’s enough stress for anyone.
Now this with my mom. Our hearts are to be there when she goes into surgery in the next day or two; while we’ll find a way to be there if necessary, it really could throw our ability to meet February rent into even greater doubt.
It is times like these when we are put to the test of how deeply we believe the teachings of Torah; and having been through such a crisis (granted, we both had jobs back then) late this summer with mom’s health, we can only trust that Adonai will bring us through once again.
Greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world. Adonai will grant us his strength, regardless of the outcome.
There are certain myths that so pollute Christianity, they must be treated like a phase 1 environmental hazard. One such myth is that the Torah sets too high a standard for anyone to ever meet. Is that true?
Certainly, we all sin and fall short of Adonai’s perfect standard, but is that what the Torah is? Not at all.
As my rabbi has been teaching, Torah is actually a compromise on G-d’s part - and in our favor. G-d’s ideal was for Him to speak directly to each and every believer in a clear and perfectly understood voice. At Mount Sinai, the Israelites were given a taste of that perfect relationship between G-d and man, and it terrified them!
15 The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him. 16 For this is what you asked of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, “Let us not hear the voice of the LORD our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die.”
17 The LORD said to me: “What they say is good. 18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him. 19 If anyone does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name, I myself will call him to account.
-Deuteronomy 18:15-19 (NIV)
Even the commands of Torah are compromises. Mosaic law allows for divorce; is that G-d’s perfect standard? Certainly not. As Rabbi Stan Farr has taught, Torah is merely G-d’s minimum standard - the point below which we fall short of “the least we can do” to demonstrate obedience to the L-rd, the G-d of Israel.
As I’ve said elsewhere, many Christians believe embracing Torah is legalism; but their standards are set far too low.
Posted by: admin in Torah
Most Christians believe that embracing the commands of Adonai is embracing legalism; their standards are far too low. Before I become messianic, I attended churches that shouted from the rooftops with joy, “Praise the L-rd, we are set free from the law!”
But exactly which of the Ten Commandments are they happy to be set free from? Are they hoping it is now OK to kill, to steal? That might be a bit over the top. Perhaps it is the more subtle commands, like wanting to be set free not to honor one’s parents, or the freedom to covet? That’s a bit more tenuous.
It seems many Christian churches are either searching for grace without consequences, or embrace legalism with a furor that would give even first-century Pharsees pause. Certainly many Christian churches prefer to preach against the sin of reading a Harry Potter novel more fervently than they preach against adultery.
It is within the messianic movement that I found the even-keel balance between grace and legalism. Yes, we are covered by Yeshua’s grace, but yes, it also matters what we do with it. Certainly, as Yeshua said, he holds us in his hands and no one can snatch him out; but we can jump out of our own accord, and I fear far too many folks are doing just that when they ignore the commands of Torah and exchange the truth of G-d for something else.
The Torah and the B’rit Chadeshah comprise the entire Word of the L-rd, and one cannot pick and choose what to obey and what to ignore like one would selectively take what they need off a shelf filled with Chrysler 300 accessory parts.
The messianic life is deeper than that; we must not ignore the Torah (which Gentile Christians refer to as “the Law”) for without it, how can anyone ever claim to know what “the will of the L-rd” is for us. No Christian church I ever attended had a good answer for us that didn’t seem subjectively invented. We don’t need to subjectively invent the will of Adonai for our lives; it’s outlined right there, in the Torah.
Praise G-d, we are not set free from the Torah; only from the perversion of Torah that leads to legalism.
