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Yeshua solemnly warned those who professed faith: "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'" (Matt. 7:21-23). Despite the practice and profession of their faith, these people were essentially strangers to God... They had a false sense of assurance, believing that they were "serving God" while they really were not... In light of this dreadful possibility, the crucial question here is whether Yeshua truly knows you. You may know a lot about God, religion, spirituality, and yet you may remain unknown by him... So where do you find life? What are you loving? Where are you going?
The call to follow Yeshua implies surrendering your entire being in service to him; it is a radical decision that will affect every aspect of your life, leading you to "die to yourself" and to undergo the crucifixion of your world. Following Yeshua marks the end of your life on your own terms, submitting yourself to him as "my Lord and my God" (John 20:28). As Bonhoeffer once wrote, "When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die" (Cost of Discipleship).
From a "natural" point of view following Yeshua is quite impossible, since the "flesh" (i.e., the principle of autonomous self-life) is hostile to the authority of God and intractably refuses to yield to God's will (Rom. 8:7). Indeed the "carnal" or "natural" self is inherently selfish and unable to free itself from its enslaving and self-serving impulses. As it is written, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and incurably sick; who can understand it?" (Jer. 17:9).
The miracle of grace (ื ืก ืืืกื), on the other hand, occurs when what is impossible for man is made possible by God's intervention, that is, when a spiritually dead heart is somehow enabled to genuinely first apprehend and then to respond to spiritual reality. This "divine encounter" is more than merely acknowledging the truth intellectually but involves surrendering to God from the heart - turning your will and your life over to the care and direction of God in trust. Again this is a matter of the heart - surrendering to God's authority, presence, and love... This is how we find Reality โ by turning to the truth (teshuvah) and accepting its terms. As we receive God's love, as we embrace it as our own, the truth of Messiah becomes inwardly visible. This comes from a place of surrender and acceptance. As Paul Tillich said, "Sometimes in a moment of weakness light breaks into darkness, and it is as though a voice says, 'You are accepted; you are accepted... Do not seek for anything; do not perform anything; do not intend anything. Simply accept the fact that you are accepted.' If that happens to you, then you experience grace, and everything will be transformed."
Such a miracle may happen suddenly (as an epiphany or radical transformation) but more often it occurs as a "slow-motion" realization, an increasing awareness that turns to settled conviction that God is real and is knowable within your heart. In either case, however, the "flesh dies hard," and therefore it is an ongoing struggle to surrender to God's will (Gal. 5:17; Rom. 7:15-25). Often we learn by revisiting waste places of our lives, becoming "sick of our sickness," and finally letting go of the old ways of coping with our fear and pain....
For many people the idea of personal Savior who loves us, forgives us, and promises us healing is comforting, but they may struggle to submit to God's authority and yield to Him as the LORD in their daily lives. They may accept "the LORD" as an abstract concept, though the idea of Adonai (ืืื ื), literally "my LORD," suddenly makes the issue intensely personal.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer once said that "only those who believe obey, and only those who obey believe," though it is important to understand that the obedience spoken of is not to the law of God - since no one can keep the law perfectly - but instead refers to the obedience of faith itself, that is to trust that God is "for you" and is your Healer (John 6:29). Indeed the very first word of the Ten Commandments is to believe that the LORD is your God -- to accept the message of hope and to believe in your personal deliverance from bondage (Exod. 20:2).
Following Yeshua is not a sort of "moral reformation" or self-improvement program to make us acceptable to God. Yeshua did not die on the cross so that we could become followers of the rabbis... No! He is LORD and Master and we find salvation in His acts of deliverance done on our behalf and for our benefit. The temptation is always to go back to the law of sin and death (i.e., the principle of self-justification), but as Luther once said, "The sin underneath all our sins is the lie of the serpent that we cannot trust the love and grace of Christ and that we must take matters into our own hands." In other words, whenever we emphasize the role of our obedience to the law we implicitly impugn the righteousness of God that justifies the ungodly and who alone can transform the human heart... The focus must be on Yeshua.
On the other hand, Yeshua did not suffer and die a bloody and incomprehensibly painful death upon the cross so that we would regard our sins lightly or to minimize their offence before heaven. Indeed regarding grace as something "cheap" is an affront to great price God paid for our healing remedy. We must find a balance here, as Bonhoeffer also said: "The truth is that so long as we hold both sides of the proposition together they contain nothing inconsistent with right belief, but as soon as one is divorced from the other, it is bound to prove a stumbling block. 'Only those who believe obey' is what we say to that part of a believer's soul which obeys, and 'only those who obey believe' is what we say to that part of the soul of the obedient which believes. If the first half of the proposition stands alone, the believer is exposed to the danger of cheap grace, which is another word for damnation. If the second half stands alone, the believer is exposed to the danger of salvation through works, which is also another word for damnation" (Cost of Discipleship). Yes, balance is essential.
"If you confess with your mouth that Yeshua is LORD and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved" (Rom. 10:9). Confessing that Yeshua is the LORD (ืืฉืืข ืืื ืืืื) means affirming that he is God the Savior (ืืืืืื ืืืืฉืืข), the LORD of Glory (ืืื ืืึผืืื) before whom every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess (see Isa. 45:22-23; Rom. 14:11; Phil. 2:10). As Thomas confessed before the resurrected Savior: ืืื ื ืืืืื - "You are my Lord and my God" (John 20:28). Indeed Yeshua is the Creator and Sustainer of Reality, the Source of Life, and the true Judge and Moral Authority (John 1:3-2; Heb. 1:3; Isa. 33:22; John 5:22). And because he is the LORD, your LORD - Adonai (ืืื ื) - you are to surrender to his authority and serve him b'khol levavkah - "with all your heart," as it is written: "And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD, which I am commanding you today for your good?" (Deut. 10:12-13).
In the Greek New Testament, Yeshua is called ho kurios (แฝ ฮบแฝปฯฮนฮฟฯ), "the Lord," the word chosen to translate the original Hebrew word YHVH (ืืืื), as well as ho despotes (แฝ ฮดฮตฯฯแฝนฯฮทฯ), the word chosen to translate the Hebrew word Adonai (ืืื ื). Yeshua is the Sole Sovereign (ืจืืืื ื ืฉื ืขืืื), the "Most High" or Ascended God (ืื ืขืืืื), the King of Kings (ืืื ืืืืืื), the LORD of Lords (ืืื ื ืืืื ืื), the God of gods (ืืืื ืืืืืื), the Shepherd of Israel (ืจืขื ืืฉืืจืื), the true Judge (ืืฉืืคื), the Governor of Reality (ืืืฉื ืืืงืื), the Holy One (ืงืืืฉื ืืฉืืจืื), the Redeemer of Israel (ืืืื ืืฉืืจืื), the God who is with us (ืขืื ื ืื), the Light of the world (ืืึนืจ ืืขืืื), the Prince of Peace (ืฉืืจึพืฉืืืื), the Mighty God (ืื ืืืืจ), the Everlasting Father (ืืืืขื), and so on.
Followers of the LORD are called avdei YHVH (ืขืืื ืืืื), that is, "servants (or slaves) of the LORD." In the Greek New Testament they are called douloi kurios (ฮดฮฟแฟฆฮปฮฟฮน ฮบแฝปฯฮนฮฟฯ). Both terms imply being entirely subject to the LORD as a "purchased" (i.e., redeemed) slave is subject to a master. The analogue is the Exodus from Egypt: God redeems his people from slavery to dark powers so that they could serve Him in the light and blessing of His presence. The redemption from Egypt led directly to the revelation at Sinai where we are taught the meaning of freedom as our personal responsibility to live according to the truth. However, we were also taught something else, namely that the revelation of the moral law of God revealed our need for a deeper deliverance - not from external conditions of oppression (Pharaoh) but from the oppression and impulses of our own egos. The tragedy of the Golden Calf and the image of the broken tablets reveals the shattered state of our lives. The message of the gospel (implicit in the Mishkan and the sacrificial system) is that God heals those who cannot heal themselves, for it was blood given by God that was used for our atonement upon the altar. The curse of the law (i.e., tochechah: ืชืึนืึตืึธื) reveals the severity of our need for a Deliverer - not just from captivity to external forces, but more radically from the inner hell of the heart. The law which is "holy and just and good" reflects the despair of ourselves.
Now some Christians have fallen into the error of promoting "grace" as a form of resignation that reasons that since we cannot heal ourselves, we must remain unhealed - and yet such passivity effectually denies the instrumentality of grace as it works within the heart to transform and sanctify our character... We must remember that the sanctifying power of the God will make a real difference in the way we live our lives. Redemption is therefore an ongoing passion. We were redeemed from bondage only to be shown our inability to live without God's blessing and strength, and therefore we need redemption from our inner corruption by means of God's grace. Therefore Yeshua said to his followers, "I no longer call you slaves (ฮดฮฟแฝปฮปฮฟฮน) but friends (ฯแฝทฮปฮฟฮน), because I have made known to you the heart of the Father (John 15:15). We are set free from the bondage to our sin by Yeshua, and the evidence of this freedom is a new direction, a new way of being. The grace of God - that is, his love working within us - is the means by which we are truly changed. Torah is moved within the heart, which is to say that God's will becomes a matter of our heart connection with Him, trusting in his forgiveness, love, and blessing so that we can serve him in the truth. This is effected by the Holy Spirit who empowers us to do God's will (1 Cor. 2:15). The Greek word "metanoia" (ฮผฮตฯแฝฑฮฝฮฟฮนฮฑ) conveys a similar idea - going "beyond" (i.e., meta: ฮผฮตฯแฝฑ) our everyday thinking (i.e., nous: ฮฝฮฟแฟฆฯ) to apprehend the realm of the sacred, the superlative wonder of existence, and the blessing of life. Teshuvah therefore is an ongoing turning to God for the blessing of life -- a matter of practicing the presence of God by abiding in his love. "Walking in love" changes our focus and direction so that we live in accordance with God's will for our lives.
"Salvation is free, but discipleship will cost you your life." - Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Hebrew Lesson:
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When Yeshua said you must be "born again," he was revealing our need for something beyond the realm of religious practices. This "something" is the righteousness of God that is "apart from the law" - a saving grace - that delivers us from ourselves.... We take hold of this righteousness when we confess our great need for God's salvation given in Yeshua. The first step is that of faith, looking to God for healing from our sickness unto death. "As Moses lifted up the serpent (ื ืืฉื ื ืืฉืืช) in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life" (John 3:14-15). Humanity as a whole has been "bitten by the snake" and needs to be delivered from its deadly venom. Just as the image made in the likeness of the destroying snake was lifted up for Israel's healing, so the One made in the likeness of sinful flesh was to be lifted up as the Healer of the world (Rom. 8:3). All we need to do is "look up and believe..."
The Spirit of God cries out, bacharta ba'chayim! - "Choose life - that you may live! For this commandment [i.e., choosing life] is not too hard for you; nor is it beyond your reach: it is very near to you - as close as your breath and as near as your heart (Deut. 30:11-14). You must "choose life," which which implies that is your personal responsibility to believe in the Reality of God, to trust in his providential care for your life, to affirm that "all is well and all manner of thing shall be well" for you, and to understand that your present struggle is designed by heaven to help you grow in grace and the knowledge of the truth (1 Pet. 3:16). All things work for our good (Rom. 8:28) and therefore "choose life" both in happier moments when all goes well, but also (and especially) in the midst of our afflictions, in the panting of our hearts for deliverance, in the loneliness of our heartaches, and in the laments of our soul over the pain of our sins. Faith courageously refuses the messages of fear, silences angry voices of this world, and resists the idols of the age that offer spurious respite from the struggle at hand... "If we live by the Spirit let us also walk in the Spirit" (Gal. 5:25). When you ask God to help you choose life, what are you doing if you are not asking God to grant you the ability to believe in the miracle of love? Choosing life involves the surrender of your heart and your will to the promise of God, choosing to receive the blessing of the Divine Presence โ his word, his promise, and his healing โ and resolutely deciding to live in light of that hope today. Dear friend, may you choose life this very hour...
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