Part 9 of the Grace and the Law Series–Sabbath Thoughts and Reflections 38

It has never been much of a secret that Churchianity despises even the slightest suggestion that the Law (also affectionately known to us as Torah) still applies to believers in Jesus Christ (also known to us as Y’shua Messiah). We in Hebrew Roots have had to either ignore the challenges to our Faith or defend our keeping and honoring of Torah, all based upon these seeming anti-Torah passages of the Apostle Paul (affectionately known to many of us as Rav Shaul). Instead of debunking or nullifying the grand yet hijacked and mostly misunderstood concept of “Grace,” we embraced the true concept of grace as it directly affects each believer in Y’shua Messiah, in proper balance with Torah Living, Y’shua-style. Instead of rejecting grace, we recognized the irreplaceable need for grace in every believer’s life as he or she walks out their Faith each and everyday. We did not drum up Bible passages to refute these seeming anti-Torah passages of Paul, but instead, used these very passages to refute the anti-Torah crowd’s claims against us. We employed sound, exegetical, contextual examination of each disputed Pauline passage and it was not too difficult to see how Churchianity has gotten it wrong all these years and even centuries. Indeed, as it relates to the writings of the Apostle Paul, the beloved Apostle Peter could not have said it any better: “And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures” (2 Peter 3:15, 16)

I find it very interesting that Churchianity (that is fundamental/traditional Christianity essentially rests upon “churching” or indoctrinating their members on that organization’s beliefs and traditions) hardly ever teaches this passage of 2nd Peter. Why would they? Churchianity believes that Paul’s writings, especially on the topic of grace and the law, are crystal clear and not at all difficult or challenging to understanding: that we are saved by grace only, insinuating that the law no longer has any place in a believer’s life (Ephesians 2:8); that we are no longer under the law (Romans 6:14; Galatians 3:23-26); that we have been released from the law (Romans 7:6); that if we continue to obey and honor the law, then Christ’s atoning sacrifice was for naught and that we will have effectively fallen from grace (Galatians 2:21; 5:24); that we who choose to honor and keep Torah are under a curse (Galatians 3:10); and that Christ kept the law for us perfectly, thus we believers no longer have to (Galatians 3:11-13). So for the average Christian, what else is there to be said on this matter. Grace is outrageously wonderful and covers everything ever so nicely having to do with our salvation, our walk with Messiah and how we conduct ourselves in this world and before God. Hilary told me of a conversation she found herself in related to this very subject of grace and the law, and the individual on the other end of the telephone line told her that because of grace (paraphrasing), he had nothing more to do beyond giving his life to Jesus (whatever that really means)—for everything is taken care of. All he, or any other believer, would need to do is await the rapture. What that says to someone like me, however, is that you can live however you choose to live because grace has got you covered. You can violate God’s laws; you can even reject the bible and God Himself, and you’re guaranteed a spot on the express train to heaven because of the outrageousness of grace.

So if you’re a born again, evangelical or fundamental/traditional/orthodox Christian, why would you read these seeming anti-Torah passages of Paul any way other than how it appears written on the pristine pages of the average believer’s Bible? Because if you were, perhaps, to read it the way we in the Hebrew Roots read these same passages, you would actually have to do something about your Faith—something about your religion. You would have to come to a monumental understanding that your pagan-infused, traditional, feel-good, give-me-some of that ole time religion had some serious problems associated with it. You would have to come to the life-changing realization that you’d been lied to by your organization, your religion, the people you trusted so much with your eternal life and your way of life as a Christian believer. You would have to decide whether your commitment to Christ was a real one or simply an emotional response to an alter call one soul-convicting Sunday afternoon. Do you then, buck the system and simply ride it out, trusting that God knows your heart and that you’ll still make it to heaven on that glad morning when this life is over and you fly away? Do you continue to worship (whatever that truly means to the believer in question) in the same sanctuary, with the same brothers and sisters, under the same teachings and indoctrination, while you awaiting the rapture—ever so frightened to challenge those teachings and indoctrinations out of a fear that you might be censured or asked to leave by the organization’s leadership?

Or does the individual who’s life was profoundly changed and he or she has given up everything for the cause of Christ (and yes, I do believe that there are many in Churchianity who are profoundly changed but sincerely mistaken in their understanding of the True Faith once delivered); does he or she upon realizing that what they’d been taught all their Christian lives was wrong, head for the door of their churches, never again to return—abandoning those old beliefs and traditions; willing to be discarded by friends and family upon their revealing to them that they had finally found truth? These are the individuals that we must be ever so ready to come alongside and render spiritual assistance and guidance, as they struggle with the imminent spiritual changes and decisions they are about to make. Many of us Netzari’s—Hebrew Rooters if you will—made this crucial, heartbreaking, yet exhilarating journey as we moved from darkness into Yahovah’s light of truth. But in order to be of proper and effective assistance to those seeking truth and pondering the decision to make that eternal change in their lives, we must—as Paul wrote to the Ephesian assembly—”fasten on the belt of truth along with putting on the breastplate of righteousness” (Ephesians 6:14). And this is one of the driving forces behind the Messianic Torah Observer and her shows Torah Living Daily Challenge and Sabbath Thoughts and Reflections. When I made this long, trying and painful transition, now over a decade ago, I wish there were resources like this available to me. If so, maybe my journeying would not have been so disjointed and uncertain as it was. You see, if we don’t get this right when the opportunity presents itself—that is availing ourselves to spread the true Gospel message and being able to render the truth of the gospel and properly address issues such as grace and the law to truth seekers–there are many potholes and distractions out there such as Messianic Judaism and Kaballah and a million and one versions of Hebrew Roots that only lead truth seekers down roads of confusion and even destruction. As Evangelical, Fundamental, Traditional and Orthodox Christianity faces her greatest falling away of members and supporters in her collective history—and I’ve spoken on this many times on this program—we must be properly positioned to receive and redirect these souls to the true Faith that they’ve been searching, many of them, their entire lives for. I’m telling you fellow saints in training, there has not been such an opportunity to impact a new generation of truth seeking believers as it is today. I encourage you to join me in this effort to bring truth to a dying world. However and whatever way the Spirit is leading you to act, don’t turn a deaf ear; don’t ignore the tug of the Spirit that is directing you to do your part in the Great Commission. As true disciples of Y’shua Messiah, we’ve been uniquely tasked with “going into the world and making disciples of all nations…” (Matthew 28:19). Of course, there are many ways in which one can do such a thing: (1) one may actually embark upon a ministry that seeks to deliver the truth to all who would listen and receive, as we have; (2) join a ministry that seeks to deliver the truth to all who would listen and receive and that prepares you for the work of the Gospel; (3) prayerfully and financially support ministries such as this that seeks to deliver the truth to the world through various means and programs; or (4) simply be a light in your day-to-day lives such that you are fully prepared to deliver the truth to whomever comes seeking and asking. Don’t allow anyone to dis-way you on your quest and responsibility. I’ve run into many self-righteous individuals who run ministries and who judge and criticize those whom they believe are unworthy to be of service to the Kingdom. Don’t allow these pompous-arrogant jerks to tell you that you can’t. The only reason these individuals take such a position against individuals in our Faith who step out on Faith to spread the true message is that they fear their support and following will be adversely impacted. You see, this is not commercialism—this is not a competition for souls—this is not an exclusive club that only the elite can be a part of. Y’shua showed us that the work of the Gospel is to be done by the “salt of the earth…” (Matthew 5:13), not a select group of beautiful, well mannered, charismatic, unique individuals. Master selected “fishermen” and tax-collectors to be key members and players in his ministry. Who are we then to think that only the Joel Osteen’s of this world should deliver the gospel. Such an attitude falls in the category of the “impostor syndrome.” I had and continue to suffer from this very thing: questioning and chastising myself for stepping out and delivering that which the Spirit (the Ruach) leads and directs me to deliver on this program.

The arrogant and pompous attitudes of members of our Faith must never dissuade any of us from the unique ministries and missions that the Father places upon us to do. I see it more times than I care to mention, how just on social media alone, we love to tear one another apart for some of the most inane things related to our Faith. Just the other day, within less than a one-day period or so, I was subjected to a “Facebook” fight—yes; I said Facebook fight. The first incident was one where a female posted a comment where she castigated those who used the name “Yahu” to refer to the Father. This I believe came as a result of a sincere brother in the Faith referred to Father using some form of Yahu, which erupted in this woman’s tirade against him and all who would use that form of name to refer to the Father. I mean the string of back and forth post to each other, in addition to those individuals who felt compelled to join in on the fight, was beyond ridiculously long. My email account was inundated with notices of each post over the period of a half-day or so. It was insane. The other Facebook fight occurred over a concept of our Faith, the particulars I can’t recall at this point: where one fellow belittled another fellow for not having the full understanding of the concept in question. The arrogant one’s statement to the one who originally posted an innocent statement on the concept was: “you did not dig deep enough in your research;” this after numerous back-and-forth posts on this subject. It’s insane folks and we need to put an end to the attacks on one another. This is why churchianity finds us to be such a disjointed and misguided band of of misfits and it’s this type of arrogant and belittling rhetoric against one another that seems to readily support such a negative contention against us, if you ask me.

Now that I’ve gotten that off my chest, we can move on to the topic at hand.

What I’d like to do for the remainder of this episode and concluding, Yah willing, the next episode, is to bring this whole discussion on Grace and the Law in to some form of defining conclusion. As I mentioned at the head of this post, we’ve spent the last 8-episodes of this series examining and attempting to properly interpret some of the most well-known, erroneously perceived, anti-Torah passages in the Bible. And we’ve come to what I believe to be the proper conclusion that Torah has NOT been done away with and replaced by grace as popular Christianity so vociferously contends. We looked at reasons why pop-Christianity holds to such a belief and we concluded that much of the reason for it’s misconception of grace and the law is as a result of a lack of proper understanding—on churchianity’s part–as to what grace and Torah really are, and the relationship that exists between the two.

How should we, the Torah Observant Believer in Y’shua Messiah, respond to such claims that Torah has been done away with and replaced by grace, especially in light of what these seeming anti-Torah passages of Paul would overtly seem to suggest to the unknowing and misunderstanding world? Many I submit, would avoid such conversations or challenges outright; and indeed there are passages in the Bible that some would use to defend their isolationist and avoidance stance to such challenges. But I’m sad to tell those of you who would take such a stance that we can’t simply walk away from every challenge to our Faith. It was the Apostle Peter, no doubt responding to the move of the Spirit in his ministry, wrote: “But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Messiah the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Messiah may be put to shame” (1 Peter 3:14, 15)

This is not to say, of course, that we engage in pointless arguments with contrary individuals over subjects such as the true name of our Father (i.e., Yahweh, Yahuah, Yahovah, Adonai, etc.) or the impracticality of following the Creator’s (Biblical) Calendar when we have a perfectly good Calculated Jewish Calendar we can use to figure out dates. I would concede that such challenges and ensuing arguments serve only to divide and separate and sow seeds of discontent and hatred in the Body of Messiah. What I believe Peter to be saying here, though, is that we must be ready and willing to respond to any who would sincerely seek to know the truth about our Faith and why we do what we do and believe what we believe.

I get it though: many of us may feel unprepared and have a sense of fear that we might not represent our faith in the best light because of our lack of understanding or inability to articulate a proper defense and explanation of our Faith. That’s only natural. The natural instinct when we are unsure about something is to simply avoid discussing it. And I would contend that there is great merit to this perspective. Certainly, you don’t want to make a habit out of talking about something you know absolutely nothing about. You probably end up making a fool out of yourself.

However, there is absolutely no excuse for us to not be prepared to defend our Faith. There is no excuse for us to not get over our fear of defending our Faith. We have the resources (tons of content and reference materials); the Faith (that is the counsel of many brothers and sisters in the Faith and the body of teachings left for us by Y’shua and His anointed apostles); and the Holy Spirit. We must not forget that we have been provided THE gift from Father—the Holy Spirit (aka Ruach haKodesh). We talk about having faith. Yet many of us forget or through our inactions, deny that we have the Holy Spirit or that the Holy Spirit even resides in us. Y’shua taught us: “And I will pray the Father and He shall give you another Comforter (i.e., Ruach haKodesh) that He may abide with you forever” (John 14:16). What we often forget is that one of the things Ruach haKodesh (aka the Holy Spirit) does for us is to charge our memories and understanding so that we may effectively work in the Kingdom of Yahovah. Y’shua taught: “But the Helper, the Ruach haKodesh, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything; that is, He will remind you of everything I have said to you” (John 14:26 CJB).

So the Holy Spirit isn’t just to help us resist the tug of sin and to flourish and thrive in a Torah-based life; it’s also designed to embolden us and bring all our thoughts, understanding and the teachings we’ve received—life and biblical teachings—and bring all that stuff hanging within our being to a place where we can readily use it for the work of the Kingdom. It’s a resource that I, unfortunately, believe we in Hebrew Roots fail to access to any appreciable degree or to any appreciable frequency. In our community we tend to view anything having to do with the Holy Spirit with evangelical and charismatic Christianity and thus many of us want nothing to do with it. But we must be absolutely clear on this folks: Y’shua operated in the Spirit; His chosen apostles operated in the Spirit; the prophets of old operated in the Spirit. Thus, who are we to reject the move and influence of the Holy Spirit in our lives? I rely upon the Holy Spirit each day to guide and teach me; to provide me the content that I am putting forth to you today in this episode and in previous episodes of this program; to form me into the very image of my Lord and Master Y’shua Messiah. Without Ruach haKodesh, I wouldn’t be able to make it in this Faith nor would I be able to maintain this ministry and function in this ministry as I’m doing. Believe me, when I first came in to this Faith I rejected the work of the Holy Spirit in my life (it’s a story that I should tell you sometime in the future) and I can tell you, it was a disaster. I was all over the place in terms of my understanding and beliefs. I couldn’t put all that I was receiving from teachings and readings and the like together and incorporate it into my life without mucking it up. I found myself in such a state of mind that I am embarrassed today to even recall that period in my life. It’s a terrible place to be in, although at the time you wouldn’t necessarily realize how bad it is, especially when you feel that you’ve arrived and are in the right about so many things. But when you go it alone and you attempt to walk this Faith, devoid of the Holy Spirit, you strive unaided and unprotected not against flesh and blood per se, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Ephesians 6:12) Yes, we strive against all these elements because it serves the enemy well to displace and jack us around and divert our attention from the truth; to distort our understanding; to introduce doubt into our minds and hearts; to lead us to wrong fellowships and churches; to put before our minds literature and teachings that serve not only to confuse us but also to lead us down a road towards destruction. To the enemy, if it can somehow make you an ineffective soldier of the Kingdom, then they’ve successfully completed their mission.

This is why understanding fundamental/foundational concepts such as grace and the Law is so important; and not just understanding them, but being able to defend and explain these concepts to other truth seeking individuals. I’ve said it before in previous episodes of this program, that today we are in a great place in that more and more people are leaving churchianity and are seeking truth and seeking to establish a viable, true relationship with the Creator of the Universe. We in Hebrew Roots have been given a gift that is more precious than anything imaginable: truth. But when the truth that many of us have received becomes so real and powerful to us and that truth has profoundly affected our lives for the absolute betterment, then we do not place that light under a bushel, but on a candlestick such that it gives light to all that are in the house (Matthew 5:15).

So what do we do with all that we’ve received on this subject? Well a few things: (1) learn and fully grasp the significance of the teachings; (2) study even more the material using our bibles as the primary source of our learning; (3) pray and fast for direction and deeper understanding; (4) write out your thoughts and maybe share them with other like-minded believers; and (5) be obedient to the truth and the leading of the Holy Spirit in our lives. In other words, don’t just let these truths find themselves buried in your mind, never to surface again, but petition the Father to reveal to you what He would have you do with the truths that you’ve received. I can’t tell you what you must do. I can only make suggestions. But you got to get out of your comfortable paradigm and do something and that something is between you and the Father.

We’re here to help of course.