Hi all,
I have a confession to make. It isn't a pretty story and rather embarrassing but I'd like to share it.
Coming
off a 1 day fast I was hungry for hot dogs - I eat Hebrew National
(Kosher) all beef hot dogs, and while we rarely eat potato chips, there
was something about those cheddar chips that had been sitting in the
pantry weeks too long for their own good.
I
cooked the whole package of 6 (bun length) hot dogs in a skillet,
rolling them around as they browned for that grilled flavor, thinking
I'd eat 3...I thought I was really stretching it to eat 3 at one
sitting. Should I do a Chicago dog, with small peppers, relish, and
mustard? The last of the sauerkraut had been used months ago the last
time I'd eaten hot dogs so I couldn't do a Kraut dog. Maybe the All
American with relish, onions, mustard or ketchup? Hmmmm....so
many possibilities, so little room in my stomach!
I
settled on relish and mustard and a few sprinkles of hot sauce...and 3
of them, I thought that should do me. But you know they looked so good
and if I put 4 on a plate I could make a square of them end to end and
put a portion of chips in the middle, so that's what I did...and they
were delicious! When finished I didn't feel like I'd eaten anything. The
remaining 2 were still in the skillet, still warm, calling to me...
They
can be dessert I said to myself...and just like that the final 2 were
gone. Good dessert I thought...now I was full, not stuffed, just
comfortably full...it had been so long since I'd had hot dogs...
But
you know, I love dark chocolate covered cherries, and on a whim I had
bought a package for myself when Chris and I were at the store last
week...So I thought, just 1 or 2 of those dark chocolate covered
cherries wouldn't hurt to top off the meal....and somehow before I knew
it 6 of them had disappeared along with a glass of ice cold milk!
They
say your stomach is actually full 10 minutes before the signal reaches
the brain to tell you that you are full. Usually when eating I
mentally project ahead 10 minutes and stop there, but it had been SO
long since I'd had hot dogs and chocolate covered cherries, and dark
chocolate ones are so hard to find!
About
10 minutes later I felt like a bloated pig and was asking myself how in
the world I could eat 6 hot dogs and as many chocolate covered
cherries, especially after a fast. It had been a slippery slope with
each step greased by my own rationalizations and flawed logic that
explained this or that away to justify pigging out.
Looking for balance
And
so it was I sat across the table from a man who had been deeply
involved in a Messianic congregation, and was now horribly afraid for
his salvation, and confused. Like me eating way too much while intending
just to eat a moderate meal, he had experienced a spiritual slippery
slope when he started simply learning about the Biblical festivals, but
ended up afraid if he broke any of the Laws of Moses he would be doomed
to hell.
He was asking what a balanced walk that included elements of Jewish roots looked like to a born again Gentile?
Why the law?
Up
until Moses, the nations had their own laws they had observed, but at
no time had God given mankind His own law. Mankind was ignorant of what
God expected, which is noted twice in Acts:
"God...who
in times past allowed all nations to walk in their own ways.
Nevertheless He didn't leave Himself without a witness in that He did
good and gave us rain from heaven, and good harvests, filling our hearts
with food and gladness." and "...we ought not to think that the Godhead
is like gold, silver or stone, created by art and man's workmanship.
And the times of this ignorance God overlooked..." (14:15-17, 17:29-30)
But when He gave His Word to Moses, mankind received a revelation: They were sinners. The law was given for that very reason:
"...that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by doing the law no person can be justified, for the law brought the knowledge of sin." Romans 3:19-20
This is why Paul said, "The law is not made for a righteous person,
but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for
unholy and profane..." and "...if there could have been a law given that
would have given Life, then truly righteousness would have come by the
law." Galatians 3:21, I Timothy 1:9
The law was a teacher, to teach us we (were) sinners
"Before faith came we were kept under the law, hemmed in until faith came which would be revealed in its proper time. Therefore the law was our schoolmaster, our tutor, to bring us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. So after faith has come, we are no longer under the schoolmaster. For you are all now the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus." "Galatians 3:22-26
The
Father's goal was to adopt us, to make us His own children. He didn't
merely want to tell mankind we were sinners, He wanted to solve that sin
problem so He could make us His children:
"Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ...who has chosen us in
Him before the foundation of the world...to be adopted by Him through
Jesus Christ to Himself, which was according to the good pleasure of His
will..." Ephesians 1:3-5
Jesus
willingly became the adoption agency through His sacrifice on the
cross, that blood being the currency used to buy our adoption into the
Father's family. That adoption also included something no earth adoption
could: Our 'spiritual DNA' was changed - our spirit was born again,
having changed from the family of death to the faminly of God. We are
both adopted and born into the Father's family!
"Giving
thanks to the Father...who has translated us from the kingdom of
darkness into the kingdom of His dear Son." Colossians 1:12-13
The slippery slope to 6 hot dogs: Why the law for Gentile 'Messianics'?
When the apostles determined in Acts 15 and 10 years later reaffirmed it in Acts 21:25, "...there are many thousands of believing Jews zealous for the law, but Gentiles need not observe any such thing", they confirmed that observing the Mosaic law is purely voluntary.
"Christ
has utterly wiped out the damning evidence of broken laws and
commandments which always hung over our heads, and has completely
annulled it by nailing it to the cross. In view of these tremendous
facts, don't let anyone worry you by criticizing what you eat or drink,
or what holy days you ought to observe, or bothering you over new moons
or Sabbaths." Paul continues:
"All these things have at most only a symbolic value: The solid fact is Christ...I
know that these regulations look wise with their self-inspired efforts
at worship, their policy of self-humbling, and their studied neglect of
the body. But in actual practice they do honor not to God, but to man’s
own pride." Colossians 2:14-23 (J. B. Phillip's Translation)
Note
he said they look wise - and no one can fault a brother or sister who
wants to learn more of the law - but Paul said the end result is they
honor man's pride and not God, because God has provided Jesus.
If
I observe the law I do so by choice, not religious compulsion. I eat
Kosher hot dogs by choice, not religion. When I fast I do so that I may
become more sensitive to the Father, not to get something from Him or
thinking I must punish myself to show Him how sincere I am. I'm His kid!
If I wish to observe Friday
(night) Shabbat, Passover, Yom Kippur, or not eat shellfish or pork, I
do so by my choice and wouldn't dream of imposing my choice on others
nor claim it is a higher and better way. It is a choice. There is wisdom
in the law, don't get me wrong. There is higher wisdom in the fullness
of Christ.
Can
anything we do approach equality with the fact Christ lives in us? That
is Paul's point - there is nothing the Mosaic Law nor man can do to
even approach what Christ did, so the key is to know Him and the power
of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings...to be more
like Him....
More next week, blessings!
John Fenn
