Relationships

David Stern, author of "The Jewish New Testament Commentary" wrote:

"To the Jewish mind the Torah is not something dead, fixed forever, but a living teaching to be applied in the light of circumstances to the lives of individuals."

Concerning "fellowship" he writes:

"Fellowship (Greek koinonia, 'community, commonness, communion, fellowship') includes two elements, each of which fosters the other: (1) deepening friendship, and (2) developing a common vision, goals and priorities."

"Breaking Bread. Many Christians assume that this refers to 'taking communion' and have an image of the early believers meeting in home to eat a tiny wafer and of bread and drink a symbolic amount of wine or grape juice, just as Christians do today in their churches. However, the context is not twentieth-century Christianity but first-century Judaism; and for Jew then as now, fellowship was mediated by meals. To say that the early Messianic Jews broke bread is to say neither more nor less than that they ate together.

The meaning of the eating together must be grasped. First of all, when possible, religious Jews begin a meal with bread and say over it a b'rakhah. Then they break off a piece of the loaf and eat it so that the blessing of God specifically for His provision of bread to eat will not have been said in vain.

Yeshua knew and observed this practice, but he also gave an additional meaning to the act of breaking bread when He said, as He broke the matzah at the Last Supper, 'This is my body, which is being given for you; do this in memory of me' (Lk 22:20 and 1 Cor.11:24). This practice clearly became part of the 'Torah of the emissaries,' so that the early believers were to recall Yeshua's death for them as they began their meal - though some fell short of the standard (1 Cor. 11:20-34). Then after that, the entire meal time was to be devoted to fellowship, 'communion' in the ordinary sense of the word (see above on fellowship), not in the technical Christian sense (wafer of bread, cup of wine).

Yet this fellowship was not merely worldly socializing that God ignores. "

David Stern goes on to write concerning fellowship and breaking bread:
There is a Jewish mishna (saying):
"If there is no meal, there is no [study of] Torah, and if there is no [study of] Torah there is no meal."

" In other words, if one becomes preoccupied with religious studies and ignores normal social interaction, the individual's study does society little good. But, conversely, if at the main time of socializing (the meal) one ignores the things of God, it is a sign that religious truth has not penetrated deeply into the life of the individual.

Yeshua, by His identification of Himself with the bread, focuses the meal on Himself and enables the reworking of the mishna [giving it new meaning]:

If there is no time of interacting with fellow believers, one's identification with Yeshua and study of God's Torah is incomplete. But if the time of interacting with fellow believers does not relate itself to Yeshua's death on our behalf and to encouraging one another in living the life God wants us to live, the time has been wasted."

To sum all of this up and tie it together, our "fellowship" is to result in a deepening of our friendship and development of common goals and vision. We are called unto the fellowship of Jesus and each other. The purpose and result of this fellowship is as Ephesians 4:13 says,

"Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a mature man, unto the fulness of Christ."

And as Ephesians 1:18,19 says:

"that He will give light to the eyes of our hearts, so that we will understand the hope to which He has called us, what rich glories there are in the inheritance He has promised His people, and how surpassingly great is His power that works in us who trust Him."

Just for Fun

After last weeks' sad events, I thought some humor would be nice. These were sent via email, and thought they were cute:


Enjoy the laughter! We all need it ---

LIFE AFTER DEATH :
"DO YOU BELIEVE IN LIFE AFTER DEATH?" THE BOSS ASKED ONE OF HIS EMPLOYEES. "YES, SIR," THE NEW EMPLOYEE REPLIED "WELL, THEN, THAT MAKES EVERYTHING JUST FINE," THE BOSS WENT ON. "AFTER YOU LEFT EARLY YESTERDAY TO GO TO YOUR GRANDMOTHER'S FUNERAL, SHE STOPPED IN TO SEE YOU!


PALM SUNDAY:
IT WAS PALM SUNDAY AND, BECAUSE OF A SORE THROAT, FIVE-YEAR-OLD JOHNNY STAYED HOME FROM CHURCH WITH A SITTER. WHEN THE FAMILY RETURNED HOME, THEY WERE CARRYING SEVERAL PALM BRANCHES. THE BOY ASKED WHAT THEY WERE FOR. "PEOPLE HELD THEM OVER JESUS' HEAD AS HE WALKED BY." "WOULDN'T YOU KNOW IT," THE BOY FUMED, "THE ONE SUNDAY I
DON'T GO, HE SHOWS UP!"


CHILDREN'S SERMON:
ONE EASTER SUNDAY MORNING AS THE MINISTER WAS PREACHING THE CHILDREN'S SERMON, HE REACHED INTO HIS BAG OF PROPS AND PULLED OUT AN EGG. HE POINTED AT THE EGG AND ASKED THE CHILDREN, "WHAT'S IN HERE?" "I KNOW!" A LITTLE BOY EXCLAIMED. "PANTYHOSE!! "


SUPPORT A FAMILY:
THE PROSPECTIVE FATHER-IN-LAW ASKED, "YOUNG MAN, CAN YOU SUPPORT A FAMILY?" THE SURPRISED GROOM-TO-BE REPLIED, "WELL, NO. I WAS JUST PLANNING TO SUPPORT YOUR DAUGHTER. THE REST OF YOU WILL HAVE TO FEND FOR YOURSELVES."


FIRST TIME USHERS!
A LITTLE BOY IN CHURCH FOR THE FIRST TIME WATCHED AS THE USHERS PASSED AROUND THE OFFERING PLATES. WHEN THEY CAME NEAR HIS PEW, THE BOY SAID LOUDLY, "DON'T PAY FOR ME DADDY. I'M UNDER FIVE."


PRAYERS:
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER ASKED, "NOW, JOHNNY, TELL ME, DO YOU SAY
PRAYERS BEFORE EATING?" "NO SIR," HE REPLIED, "WE DON'T HAVE TO, MY MOM IS A GOOD COOK!"



CLIMB THE WALLS:
"OH, I SURE AM HAPPY TO SEE YOU," THE LITTLE BOY SAID TO HIS GRANDMOTHER ON HIS MOTHER'S SIDE. "NOW MAYBE DADDY WILL DO THE TRICK HE HAS BEEN PROMISING US." THE GRANDMOTHER WAS CURIOUS. "WHAT TRICK IS THAT?" SHE ASKED. "I HEARD HIM TELL MOMMY THAT HE WOULD CLIMB THE WALLS IF YOU CAME TO VISIT," THE LITTLE BOY ANSWERED.


THE MOOD RING:
MY HUSBAND BOUGHT ME A MOOD RING THE OTHER DAY. WHEN I'M IN A GOOD MOOD IT TURNS GREEN. WHEN I'M IN A BAD MOOD, IT LEAVES A RED MARK ON HIS FOREHEAD.


THE WATER PISTOL:
WHEN MY THREE-YEAR-OLD SON OPENED THE BIRTHDAY GIFT FROM HIS
GRANDMOTHER, HE DISCOVERED A WATER PISTOL.. HE SQUEALED WITH DELIGHT AND HEADED FOR THE NEAREST SINK. I WAS NOT SO PLEASED. I TURNED TO MOM AND SAID, "I'M SURPRISED AT YOU. DON'T YOU REMEMBER HOW WE USED TO DRIVE YOU CRAZY WITH WATER GUNS?" MOM SMILED AND THEN REPLIED..... "I REMEMBER!!"


WHO'S STUPID?
A NEW TEACHER WAS TRYING TO MAKE USE OF HER PSYCHOLOGY COURSES. SHE STARTED HER CLASS BY SAYING, "EVERYONE WHO THINKS THEY'RE STUPID, STAND UP!" AFTER A FEW SECONDS, LITTLE DAVEY STOOD UP. THE TEACHER SAID, "DO YOU THINK YOU'RE STUPID, LITTLE DAVIE ?" "NO, MA'AM, BUT I HATE TO SEE YOU STANDING THERE ALL BY YOURSELF!"


COLD CREAM:
LITTLE DAVIE WATCHED, FASCINATED, AS HIS MOTHER SMOOTHED COLD CREAM ON HER FACE. "WHY DO YOU DO THAT, MOMMY?" HE ASKED.
"TO MAKE YOURSELF BEAUTIFUL," SAID HIS MOTHER, WHO THEN BEGAN REMOVING THE CREAM WITH A TISSUE. "WHAT'S THE MATTER?" ASKED LITTLE DAVIE . "GIVING UP?"


GRANDMA'S AGE:
LITTLE JOHNNY ASKED HIS GRANDMA HOW OLD SHE WAS. GRANDMA ANSWERED, "39 AND HOLDING." JOHNNY THOUGHT FOR A MOMENT, AND THEN SAID, "AND HOW OLD WOULD YOU BE IF YOU LET GO?"

Religion vs. Relationship; Works vs. Response

"Relationship makes us more like God.
Religion makes us more like men." from the Yada Yahweh website author.

"To live the Christian life is not our "responsibility", rather it is "our response to His Ability."

As I think on this thought, I am reminded of the Scripture in James 1:23-25:

"For whoever hears the Word but doesn't do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror; who looks at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But if a person looks closely into the perfect law of liberty and continues, becoming not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work it requires, then he will be blessed in what he does."

This describes "relationship". We look into the mirror of God's Word to see what He is like, so that we can become like Him, just as a little child watches his or her parents and imitates them.

Religion, on the other hand, has the end result of separating us from God by presenting a false picture. Religion tells us that we are sinners, and that God is mad at us because we are sinners. So we try to appease Him and win His favor by doing good deeds, hoping that if our good deeds outweigh the bad, God will see that and let us in to heaven. People from all cultures observe some type of religion. Most all religions recognize the sinfulness of mankind and encourage people to work toward appeasing a god of some sort. These are dead works, and not the kind of "work" that James was talking about When we obey the Scriptures, it is not in hopes of appeasing some far off, angry deity. We respond to what we read in the Scriptures because we know that they paint a picture of what we are to "look like" and "act like". God's Word is like a mirror that reflects God's image to us.

But the good news of the Gospel is that God is not mad at us.

Well, you might say, "But we are sinners."

If you have called out to God, asking Him to forgive you of your sin, and acknowledged God's remedy for sin - the penalty of sin being paid for through the precious life-blood of Jesus - then according to Scripture, you are a Saint of God - not a sinner. We might fall once in a while because we still live in a fallen world, and still contend with mortal flesh, but spiritually we have been made new. We are being made into His image. The Scriptures show us what He is like. That is why we need to read them. How else can we know Him? When we read the Scriptures, it is not so that we can become legalistic and follow them to the letter and prove to God that we can accomplish these things in our own strength. No! We let the Scriptures paint the pictures of God's love and personality within us, and we simply respond to Him.

The End From the Beginning

While contemplating breakfast and thinking about everything I would like to get done today, I could not help but consider our snowfall we got yesterday, and how in Florida it is well into Springtime with everything blooming. I really wish we could have beautiful weather too! Not that the snow isn't beautiful - but it is so nice when we can open the windows, and go out without bulky coats, and see green grass and colorful flowers! Then I thought of Scripture and how after the flood (in Genesis) God made a new covenant with Noah. In that covenant God promised not to curse the ground or smite every living thing again, and He lays out the priniciple that, "While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease." (Genesis 8:21, 22) Well, we just get more of the cold and winter part of that verse. A little more of the heat and summer part would be okay with me! lol

All of this caused me to think about the fact that Genesis is the book of Beginnings, and God has said that He has told the end from the beginning. Everything concerning the history of humankind is found in Genesis.

"Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure." (Isaiah 46:9, 10)

Many Bible teachers and even Jewish Rabbis believe that the six days of creation in Genesis refer to six thousand years of human history. This concept is also found in the New Testament where Peter is writing to the Church to remind them to be faithful and patient in waiting for the second coming of Jesus:

"But beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." (II Peter 3:8)

It is also interesting to recognize a pattern in Scripture along these lines. Author and teacher Charles Cappps points out in his book that, "The city of Jericho is a type of the wicked world. After Joshua crossed over the Jordan, he marched around the city for six days with seven priests out front blowing seven trumpets. I believe the trumpets represent a prophetic warning God has issued to the wicked world for six thousand years. Just as Jericho was warned six days by seven priests sounding their trumpets, the earth has also been warned by God's prophetic word for nearly six thousand years of His coming wrath. Joshua marched around Jericho seven times on the seventh day. This represents God's number of completion."

( In the Old Testament, the blowing of trumpets was a call to repentance, or a call to gather
God's people.)

On the 4th day of creation, God created the lights (Sun and Moon). There was about 4 thousand years of human history from Adam to the coming of Jesus (the Light of the world) and the establishing of the Church (the moon which reflects the light of the sun and restrains darkness).

Charles Capps also writes about a comparison of Jesus is Psalm 19:1-5:

"The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork.
Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night shows knowledge.
There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.
Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.
(The gospel will be preached in all the world unto all nations; and then the end shall come. Matthew 24:14)
In them He has set a tabernacle for the sun,
Which is as a bridegroom coming out of His chamber, and rejoices as a strong man to run a race."

Jesus called Himself the bridegroom, and Scripture tells us, "Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." (Hebrews 12:2)

I love the picture this Plsam gives us of Jesus. A bridegroom coming out of His chamber, rejoicing as a strong man to run a race. Jesus is my hero.

Searching for the Spectacular

This morning I was reading the "Jewish New Testament Commentary" by David Stern, and a statement he made struck me. He wrote, "The Messiah is the firstborn of a new humanity through being the first to be resurrected from the dead;. . ." (italics, mine) My first thought was, "A new humanity!" A new type of human being! Yet from outward appearances, nothing is new. When we receive the Holy Spirit into our hearts, and accept Jesus as our Saviour, we still look the same physically. The Bible says that we were resurrected from the dead along with Jesus. These statements are actually very spectacular, yet there are no flashing lights and loud thunders announcing this miraculous work of God. However, what God has done within us is miraculous.

This fact caused me to think further about how God works in such a way that if a person is not attuned to considering God in his heart, he or she can miss entirely what God is doing. As Jesus said, "Unless a person is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." (John 3:3).

I thought of all the many works the Bible tells that God did in the earth that had extraordinary consequences, yet the ordinary outward appearance of things seemed to stay the same, at least for a time.

Starting with Jesus, I thought about how He was born in humble conditions. The mighty and great people (kings and rulers) were unaware of this most amazing event that would change the whole world. In their lives that very night that Jesus was born, nothing seemed different.

Even during his earthly ministry, the people who should have known and recognized Jesus as the Messiah missed it, even with all that He did among them! In his hometown, they said, "Isn't he the carpenter's son? And they took offense at Him." (Matthew 13:55, 57)

I thought about King David. When the prophet Samuel came to Jesse's house (David's father) and told him he came to annoint the next king of Israel, they called all of Jesse's sons in for Samuel to see which one was God's choice for king - that is - they called all the sons in except David! They did not even consider David. Only after Samuel passed by all of Jesse's other sons and asked if there were any others that they remembered David out in the field and called him in. (I Samuel 16)

Even after Samuel annointed David as the next king of Israel, nothing much seemed to change in David's life. He was still a shepherd. It was many years before David literally was crowned king and sat on the throne.

Think about Abraham and Sarah too. From outward appearances, nothing was spectacular. One man and wife, leaving their homeland and wandering through foreign lands as strangers.

The world is always looking for the "supernatural" to be accompanied with thunders and lightnings, and a spectaular display. But God works in ways that begin within, that are hidden to the natural eye. They just seem ordinary in many ways.

"God's 'weakness' is stronger than humanity's strength. Just look at yourselves - look at those whom God has called! Not many of you are wise by the worlds standards, not many wield power or boast noble birth. But God chose what the world considers nonsense in order to shame the wise; God chose what the world considers weak to shame the strong; and God chose what the world looks down on as common or regards as nothing in order to bring to nothing what the world considers important; so that no one should boast before God. It is His doing that you are united with the Messiah." (I Corinthians 1:25-30)

"The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed which a man takes and sows in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it grows up it is larger than any garden plant and becomes a tree, so that the birds flying about come and nest in its branches." (Matthew 13:31-32)

Even though the beginning of what God does is often within and unseen, that does not mean that it is ineffective in changing the outward things that can be seen.

We can also learn from this that we should not put all of our confidence in what we see right now.

Speaking of the first Temple that had been destroyed, and also of the second Temple that was to be built, God says, "Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory? and how do you see it now? is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing?" Then He tells Haggai, "The glory of this latter house (the second temple) shall be greater than of the former."

Also in connection with the building of the second temple, God tells Zechariah, "Who has despised the day of small beginnings?" (Haggai 2:3 and Zechariah 4:10)

"People born of dust are like the man of dust, and people born from heaven are like the man from heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust(Adam - physical body), so also we will bear the image of the man from heaven (Jesus - spiritual body)."(I Cor. 15:48, 49)

"Dear friends, we are God's children now; and it has not yet been made clear what we will become. We do know that when he appears, we will be like Him. . ." (I John 3:2)

Praying In Authority

I have not posted all week, and we are getting ready to head down to Wisconsin for Peyton's birthday, but wanted to blog a little anyway. This morning I was reading through a magazine called, "The Glory Watch" from the ministry of Billye Brim. There were two articles I read which I wanted to blog about. One is titled, "How I Learned to {pray in the heavenlies}". The other article is titled, "The Authority of The Believer." There is a lesson in the articles that is very timely in its message, and was something I needed reminding of, that I wanted to share.

The message of the authority of the believer is based on the Book of Ephesians, which we have read from. There is so much in Ephesians! What I want to touch on quickly is the message from Ephesians that as a member of the Body of Christ, we have been raised with Him, and are seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus (2:1, 4-7). Physically we are on this earth, but our identity and authority are heavenly. We need to acknowledge this every day by taking the time to bring this to our remembrance and then thank God for it. There is a prayer that Billye Brim printed in the article that she got from a book by John MacMillan that I will quote here:

"Do we believe that God 'has quickened us together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus?' If we do, our reaction to it will be a fervent, 'Lord, I accept your gracious word. I believe that Thou hast done this for and in me. In humble faith I do now take my seat in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus at Thy right hand. Teach me how to fulfull this sacred ministry, how to exercise the authority which Thou hast entrusted to me. Train me day by day that I may attain to the full stature of the perfect man in Christ, so that in me Thy purpose of the ages may be fulfilled. Amen."

This is just a small portion taken from this article, and because of the lack of time that I have today, I cannot comment much for now on this concept. However, I would encourage you to read Ephesians again, taking the words to heart as if the letter was written personally to you. I love the Book of Ephesians because is it a picture of what the Church is called to. Also, Billye Brim's web site is good to check out. The web address is: www.billyebrim.com.

Have a great Easter, and remember. . . when Jesus was resurrected, so were you! You were raised with Him, and are seated with Him in heavenly places! When we pray to the Father, we are coming face to face with Him. We have His ear. He is interested in what we have to say. Don't pray as if we have no hope, but pray with the knowledge that He is our great, big, strong Papa, and He loves us. And return His love as His dearly beloved Child.