The Real Purpose-Driven Life
Observe them faithfully, for that will be proof of your wisdom and discernment to other peoples, who on hearing all these laws will say, “Surely, that great nation is a wise and discerning people.” Deuteronomy 4:6
Surely – The nations will be amazed. That’s what Moses says about an obedient Israel. “Surely,” is the Hebrew raq. In this context, it announces the wonderful surprise that this tiny nation of Israel has such a close relationship with God that everything it does just seems to be blessed. Now you know the goal of the real purpose-driven live. Moses exhorts the people to keep all the instructions for God’s way of living in order that God may use Israel to attract all the nations of the earth to Him. The purpose-driven life is not about how blessed I will be. It’s about how blessed others will be through me. It’s the lesson of the fruit on a national scale.
There are 613 commandments in the Torah, but if you really inspect them, you will find that a great number of them do not apply to you. Of those that do apply, the majority are clear, moral imperatives required for the existence of any society (for example, not murdering others). Then there are a handful that might not seem to make sense to us today (like diet and clothing) but are still important because God asks us to be His magnets in the world. As Paul says, we who believe in the Messiah are grafted into the commonwealth of Israel. That means we take on the same obligations as any other citizen of God’s government. We live under His constitution and His constitution is the Torah.
So, let’s leave behind that worn-out idea that the reason I serve God is so I will be blessed. Blessings in my life are an accident of on-purpose living and on-purpose living is about reaching the world through God’s involvement with me and my community. Will I be blessed? Of course. That’s the consequence of obedience. Why? Because it is through this blessing that God attracts others. Of course, blessings do not always come in the form that we would like, but they always come in a form God can use. If we focus our attention on the purpose of His blessing instead of the results, then we can understand why sometimes a blind man must be born blind, why a child must die and why a man must hang on the cross. Just like the lesson of the fruit, blessings are designed to pass through you to attract and nourish others.
Why do we keep Torah? First, because God asks us to. He is the King of this kingdom and His will is the law of the land. But secondly, we keep Torah because God promises that our obedience will become the vehicle that brings the lost to Him. We keep Torah for the sake of the lost. It is our guaranteed means of evangelism in the everyday walk of life. It is the basis of the Great Commission – “as you are going, disciple”. As you are walking according to God’s instructions, He will bring you into contact with those who will look at your life and say, “Something wonderful is happening here. Tell me about it.”
Topical Index: Torah, commandments, purpose, Deuteronomy 4:6, evangelism, raq
Skip – I think you’re misguided in keeping the Torah as a Christian. You’ve written about not eating pork or shellfish as a conversation-opener, but aren’t you acting like one of those silly Galatians that Paul challenges….they had begun in faith, but were living moment by moment as sons of Ishmael.
Please explain in more detail.
Maria
This concerns me also, Maria.
Brethren,
I would like to point out that as Christians, we should already be “Torah observant”! 🙂 Every time we help widows/orphans/strangers (Deu 10:18;many others); everytime we honor our parents (Exo 20:12); everytime we love our brothers and not harbor hatred in our heart (Lev 19:17-18); everytime we avoid adultery, fornication, lewdness, slander, covetness… we are keeping Torah. 😉
The issue is really how much of the Torah we keep. We know Jesus did not come to abolish the Torah (Mat 5:17). He could not be the Living Word if He were to do away with the eternal Word of GOD. In fact He lived Torah out blamelessly. His life is way we should endeavor to live. If being “Christ-like” is our aim as Christians, then keeping Torah is how we do it, as we extend grace to others, even as it has been extended to us. 🙂
PS: The sons of Ishmael don’t keep Torah, they keep the Koran. It is the sons of Israel that are blessed with GODS instructions (Torah) and are blessed as they do. Also as Skip mentioned above, we honor our Heavenly Father as we do. Baruch HaShem! 🙂
it was for FREEDOM Christ Set us free. ” I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God, Who in His Love and Mercy Called you to share the Eternal Life He Gives through Christ. You are already following a different way 7 that pretends to be the Good News but is NOT the Good News at all. You are being fooled by those who twist and change the Truth concerning Christ.”
Galatians 2:11-14 (NLT)2:11 But when Peter came to Antioch, I had to oppose him publicly, speaking strongly against what he was doing, for it was very wrong. 12 When he first arrived, he ate with the Gentile Christians, who don’t bother with circumcision. But afterward, when some Jewish friends of James came, Peter wouldn’t eat with the Gentiles anymore because he was afraid of what these legalists would say. 13 Then the other Jewish Christians followed Peter’s hypocrisy, and even Barnabas was influenced to join them in their hypocrisy. 14 When I saw that they were not following the truth of the Good News, I said to Peter in front of all the others, “Since you, a Jew by birth, have discarded the Jewish laws and are living like a Gentile, why are you trying to make these Gentiles obey the Jewish laws you abandoned?
Our Blessed Yeshua Messiah said it was our LOVE that would distinguish us…LOVE Produces the Lifestyle…adherance to the Law Produces Slavery…
Sister,
The issues in the letter to the Galatians is commonly and highly misunderstood. 🙁 Largely it is about people thinking they have to convert to Judism in order to be saved. “Works of the law” is a Hebreic idiomatic expression for ‘teachings of the sages’ (about the law). “Jewish laws” again are rulings by the Jewish rabbis- NOT about the Torah.
On the other hand, …adherance to the Law Produces Slavery… is also true. After all, “…you are slaves to whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness.”- Rom 6:16. Remember, sin is lawlessness [anomia- without Torah] -1John 3:4
Our LOVE does distinguish us. LOVE motivates us toward obedience that produces the lifestyle…adherance to the Law (Torah) Produces Blessings (Deu 28:1-2; many others). It is actually “the mindset of the flesh” that is “hostile toward GOD; for it does not subject itself to the Law of GOD”- Rom 8:7. 🙂
Shalom alechem 🙂
My dear friends and readers,
Let me try again to make the crucial distinction between salvation and usefulness. No one, not even Moses, suggests that salvation comes through keeping the Torah. The provision for sacrifice within the Torah is a clear indication that God never expected His people to be holy through obedience. Paul underscores the point by referencing Abraham’s righteousness BEFORE circumcision (Romans 4). The bottom line is the same as it has always been: Salvation comes through grace, not works. Grace is God’s generous goodness and compassion toward us when we do not deserve it. But usefulness is not the same as salvation.
There are two covenants in this combination. The covenant with Abraham is a covenant of promise, made entirely by God. No human being is a party to that covenant because no human being could ever live up to the obligations. This is God’s promise to us through Abraham based entirely on God Himself. But the covenant with Moses has two parties: God and His chosen people. Both have obligations. God obligates Himself to blessings and curses and to the fulfillment of His government in the Land. His chosen people obligate themselves to keeping His instructions. Since Paul argues that all believers, regardless of bloodline, are grafted into the commonwealth (a government term) of Israel, that means that when we accept the Lord as our King, we come under the constitution of His government that was established in the covenant with Moses. THIS DOES NOT AFFECT OUR SALVATION. This is a covenant of usefulness, blessings, curses and evangelism to the world.
If you see that none of these covenants were ever abolished, then you will recognize that Jesus, Paul, Peter, James, John and all the rest (including thousands of devout, zealous believers in the first century) were all Torah-observant. They did not given up the Mosaic covenant on the basis of the resurrection. In fact, they were Torah-observant all the more so, to the end of their lives. Even Paul, the great proponent of grace, claims Torah obedience. So, this means that the idea that keeping Torah is for the Jews but Christians are somehow exempt is false. If those closest to the time of the Messiah kept Torah AFTER His resurrection, why do we somehow think that it no longer matters. The reason is that the “church” moved away from its Jewish heritage for political reasons during the second and third centuries. This artificial wedge created the idea of a “new Israel”, the Church, that now ran on its own rules.
You can see some of the foolishness of this if you consider the place of the Ten Commandments in the Church. If we are under grace, why do we bother with the Ten Commandments? They don’t apply anymore, right? OK, so which ones would you gladly give up? After all, who needs them? We live by grace now. (Actually, we have pretty much abdicated the 4th one.) This is essentially Paul’s argument in Romans 6. Is the Law set aside so that grace may abound? Heavens NO!
So, why do so many people struggle with this? Because we human beings fall into the same false dichotomy that Paul attempts to clear up in his letters. Instead of recognizing that we are saved by grace but live useful lives by obedience, we become legalists, claiming that God only accepts us when we obey Him. That is ridiculous. If that were that case, no one would ever be acceptable to God. We are accepted because He accepts us. But if we want to be entirely useful to Him, He has given us a guide book to live by. It’s called the Torah, and it includes ALL of the first five books, the stories, the poems, the narrative and the commands. Everything stands or falls on these words – everything that is useful for living a God-centered life in this world. Does that mean that God doesn’t use those of us who do not follow Torah? Of course not. Most of us got to this place in our life with God by wandering our way through some forms of obedience without Torah consciousness. But God has given us a way to be MAXIMIZED in our usefulness. I often suggest the metaphor of a pipe. The bigger the pipe, the more water can pass through it. Torah is a very big pipe, but, of course, God will use any size pipe that you allow Him to use in your life. So, He uses what you give Him. It’s just that as you keep Torah, your pipe enlarges.
Think of it like this. When you become a naturalized citizen of a country, you adopt the laws of that land (unless you live in America today, ha, ha). You are a recognized citizen when you obey the rules set up by the government of the land where you live. In the same way, God has established a government. He has a constitution and rules for living. Those rules don’t MAKE you a citizen but AFTER you are a citizen, they allow you to be a productive member of the society. That’s exactly what the Torah does.
The most important question we must all ask, and answer, is this: if God asks me to live a certain way in the world, to worship Him in a certain way, to be a part of His plans by honoring a certain lifestyle, why am I not willing to do that?
So, on we go. Hopefully, we are still learning, all of us together.
If you want more on this, you might try reading Todd Bennett’s series called Walk In The Light. It is an eye-opener.
Skip
I also have been taught that Jesus wiped out the “old covenant” and the Old Testament just provides a historical context, some prophesy…. and a bunch of teachable Sunday School lessons. What I find inspiring in Skip’s first teaching and in this further discussion is the concepts of usefulness to the Kingdom. Accepting the risen Christ meant I had to give up many of the ways of the world. In abandoning the world I gained Freedom. Looking back, it doesn’t seem like such a big deal and life in Christ is a daily joy. It is my rebellion and self-centeredness embedded in the world and its doctrinal rules that keeps me from fully embracing Torah living. That, and I still don’t really have an idea what it would mean for daily living. (I can’t help wondering if there isn’t some latent and insidious anti-semitism at work here?)
Thank you for the reminder that we are to follow Torah. Some may think that the diet and clothing don’t apply now but please let me share a testimony. One of the clothing laws is the wearing of tzitzit fringes. I began wearing them a few months ago and it is amazing how the reminder of YHWH’s commandments being on my body has made me more aware of my behavior! It must be blessed of YHWH because the WWJD bracelet never had the same impact. And I have lost count of the many opportunities I have had to witness to others when they ask what they are. I simply reply ” They are reminders to me to follow the commandments. We are told to wear them in Numbers 15: 38-41.” Many times it has lead to more sharing, but it always reminds me that I am to be that nation that the world looks to for the answers. The clothing law on not mixing wool and linen can be scientifically substanciated by how those two mixed together reflect light. Often in this day in age we can understand why YHWH told us things that at the time we did not understand. And that does not mean if we think it doesn’t apply anymore we stop doing it. Like the food laws. The arguement has been in times past that we were told not to eat pork but that was because of the lack of refridgeration, and I now work with a jew that says it is ok, but all you have to do is look at the video on line of the woman who had a worm taken from her brain that originated in a piece of pork to find out that is not true. Our Abba Father has a perspective that we do not have! We just need to trust Him and lean not to our own understanding. Hey, it is a burden that is truely light as Yeshua said because He has the responsibility 🙂 I pray all of us walk in Torah and change the world. I know it has changed me.
The very best overview that I can offer on all this is Rabbi Robert Gorelik’s series on the Covenant. Bob is a Messianic Jew who is totally sold-out to Yeshua. His teaching is illuminating and deep. Please go to his web site http://www.eshavbooks.org and take a look at the material there. It will really help. By the way, his series on anti-Semitism is quite revealing. Little did we know how we got to this notion of Law VERSUS Grace.
Skip
Skip, and ALL Others: Tom White’s first blog above, is so on target! Yes, we are Torah observant if we do the things he named. However; it is probable that most Christians sitting in churches that are trying to do a creditable job of teach the Scriptures in SS, Bible classes, sermons, have never used the word Torah, or do not regularly use it. And the time spent in learning at church is very limited! There is not enough time to teach a lot, and the teachers try to focus on the absolutes.
But if we have been in creditable churches for years, we have learned to be Torah observant simply by OSMOSIS. We may not have heard the term Torah, and other Hebrew or Greek words. ( Indeed when I started with Skip about seven years ago, that is why. I wanted to learn some .)
By the way Skip, where is Vince S.? He was the original person to get our oldest daughter/husband taking this).
The Jews used phylacteries to be worn by the males who had reached age 13: Ex. 13:9, 16, Deut. 6:11, 18– these passages suggested that God’s Word is more precious than any jeweled amulet.
Page 2. continued: Sorry, the blog shoots out from under me– L.B.
BUT JESUS SPOKE IN MATTHEW 23:5, ” BUT ALL THEIR WORKS THEY DO TO BE SEEN BY MEN. THEY MAKE THEIR PHYLACTERIES BROAD AND ENLARGE THE BORDERS OF THEIR GARMENTS. NKJV
OH! OH! OH!—— THIS SEEMS LIKE A WORD OF WARNING TO ALL OF US!—
I my deep study of scripture it has always (since starting to read it as a new believer) been a wonderment to me that anyone would have such a problem with wanting to keep the commandments of our God. Why is HIS word not law to us? Why do we have to take some official word from someone who went to seminary? I got it just by reading the english version! I never thought of myself as an especially smart person, but just reading the english tells you what he expects from us if we are willing to do it. I did start at the beginning though. Please read the WHOLE word as a child who has not been endocrinated. It’s all there.