Grace vs. Law

Enjoy this article from First Fruits of Zion. It digs into whether or not Christians should still uphold the laws of the Torah, now that our Messiah has come. I feel I really benefited from it and hope you feel the same! You can find many more insightful articles on their site: ffoz.org

Thought for the Week:

Things get backward if we start to believe that we must keep God's Law in order to be saved. Instead, we should keep God's Law because we are saved.

Commentary:

This week's Torah portion contains a lot of laws. Exodus 21-23 reads like an ancient legal code. Of the 613 commandments that the sages traditionally derive from the Torah, more than fifty of them are found in this week's portion.

For some reason, many Christian teachers seem to view the laws of the Torah as if they are a bad thing. It is commonly taught that the law is the opposite of grace. You might hear someone say, "We are no longer under the law. We are under grace." The implication is that since we have received the Messiah, we need not concern ourselves with the laws of the Old Testament. We can call this idea "Grace vs. Law."

Let's think about the Grace vs. Law idea. What do we mean when we say that we are not under the law? Does that mean we do not have to keep God's rules? For example, does it mean that we can commit adultery and theft? Of course not. No one would say that. So what does it mean?

The Grace vs. Law concept is derived from the writings of Paul. In his epistles, it seems that Paul pits the two in opposition to each other. He often says things like "Before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law" (Galatians 3:23) and "If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law" (Galatians 5:18). One might misunderstand these statements to mean that Christians do not need to keep God's rules. Of course, that would be absurd. Paul realized that some people might misunderstand his teaching, so he cautioned us not to suppose that grace gives us free license to sin against God.

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? (Romans 6:1-2)

Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law. (Romans 3:31)

If Paul was not teaching believers that they did not have to keep God's rules, what was he talking about? In Paul's day, many of the Jewish believers taught that before Gentiles could be part of the kingdom of heaven, they needed to become Jewish. The idea that a Gentile must become Jewish before being saved is what Paul calls "being under the law." Paul believed that Gentiles became sons of Abraham and part of the people of God through faith in Messiah. They did not need to earn that status by becoming legally Jewish. They did not need to first come"under the law" in order to enter the kingdom.

The Bible does not actually teach the idea of Grace vs. Law. Grace is God's free gift of salvation for those who believe in his Son. Law is His loving instruction for how His people should live. Grace vs. Law is a false dichotomy. They are not opposed to each other. They are meant to work hand in hand.

Our Big Passover Dinner

Well, I can hardly believe it, but it's already been two days since our Passover Sedar! It was a lot of work, but it all payed off when we sat down to a beautifully set table and immaculately clean house. :) Of course after all the talking I've been doing about it I've got to share pictures! I credit these to Mother Dear and Active Boy...

There were a good amount of children at the Sedar this year, eleven in all. Of course, we were six of them, but it was nice to have some other little ones there too.

Here is a friend and I who got to sing Kadosh together at dinner. It was a hit. :)

Some more Kodak moments...

At the end we had dishes up to our eyeballs! Every counter in the kitchen was full. Still though, we're enjoying our leftovers. :)

If you'd like to hear more about our Sedar, you can see what Mom had to say about it here and here.

Enjoy your weekend!

Our Passover Preprarations

As many of you know, Passover is creeping up quickly. This year it starts April 8th - less than three weeks away! For our family, that means eating up all the leaven in our house before having to chuck it all out, in accordance to Exodus 12:15:

"Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel."

Like Missi's family, we put all our leaven in boxes so we can make sure to use it up! Here's what we had when we first put the boxes together...plus about 50lb of flour, and a good amount of crackers and granola bars in the van as "emergency snacks" to be used.

Now we've used up a good amount of the pasta and crackers and some of the cereal. Of course, we don't eat cereal, granola bars and pop tarts very often (actually the pop tarts are Dad's), but now that we're getting closer to Passover we're eating them a lot more, which of course everyone likes. :)

Another thing we do is clean. Although many of the rooms in our house probably don't have any leaven in them, it's a good time to do a good thorough cleaning of the WHOLE house. Even the storage closet that holds toiletries is on our clean-up list!

Of course, after all the preparation comes the actual Passover part. This year we're having a large Sedar dinner at our house with many Messianic friends. Then, the next day, my dad is going to do one for us children. That's usually pretty fun. :) We have an uncomplicated skit of the story using homemade oversize masks, a decorated table with frogs, flies and so on and lots of explaining. It usually takes about a half hour to forty five minutes, which is good for the littles!

Like it says in Exodus 12:15 (above), you're not supposed to eat leaven for seven days. Sounds easy, no big deal. Just don't eat sandwiches and spaghetti, right? He he, well don't we all wish it were that easy. If you've ever gone without leaven before, you know how hard it is! You feel like you're practically living on matzah. :)

Last year, Active Boy's birthday fell on Passover so I made him a non-leavened apple cake. It turned out all right, but as soon as the leaven-fast was over I made him a real one!

Another time, our family took a trip to Costco on Pesach (Hebrew for "Passover"). It turned out not to be such a good idea because they were sampling a ton of bread products that day...not that we remembered it was Passover or anything. Yep! I remember I was on a little blueberry muffin when Mom quietly said to us to quick throw our samples away - it's Pesach!

So yes, we are still learning, but are thankful to be celebrating the Lord's appointed feasts!

You can read more about what we do for Passover on Mother Dear's blog here: Getting Rid of Leaven and Preparing for Passover.

Love,

Happy Purim!

As some of you may know, today is Purim, the celebration of God working through Queen Esther to save her people! Unfortunatly, I'm (hopefully) getting over a bad headache that seems to keep moving to different places, so this won't be too long!

Here's MIT #2 as our little Esther all dressed up for our family Purim play.

At the bottom here I've listed some places you can visit to learn more about the holy day...

To read the Purim story from the Bible, go here, to the Book of Esther.
Want a sixty second version? Head on over to aish.com.

Growing in Grace Magazine put out lots of articles on Purim this month from a few different laides. Read Purim, The Holiday of Joy.

Purim Sameach,

"Hanukkah, Hanukkah, Festival of Lights - Hey!"

It is now the third day of Hanukkah, and much is a-buzz at our house! Tomorrow night we're having a Hanukkah Party with people from our Torah Study and my Grandparents are coming over this weekend (if the pass allows - snow is abundant in Washington this year!), plus we're doing the usual holiday/winter activities: baking, sledding and holiday decor!

Presents are of course part of the fun, and this year we're doing it a little different. Instead of just receiving gifts from our parents, everyone in the family is having a night to give. On your night, you get to light the menorah and give out the presents you've made/bought for everyone. So far it's been fun! Tonight is my night, so of course I'm exited to see how everyone likes their gifts. I won't tell you what I'm giving yet, as some of those certain people read my blog :) , but I'll definitely post some pictures and talk about it afterwards, probably in a couple of days here.

Although I don't have time to tell you the Hanukkah story about the Maccabees, here are some links for you on Hanukkah and the story behind it.


- Hanukkah: The Festival of Lights
By Mrs. Brown at Growing in Grace Magazine

- Hanukkah Story
From About.com

- Hanukah
From BethHaMashiach.com

- The Messiah In Hanukkah
From BiblicalHolidays.com

One last thought: although the Hanukkah story is not in the Bible, and God never commanded anyone to celebrate it, did you know that not only is the Festival is mentioned in the New Testament, but that Jesus actually celebrated it? Here's the verse:

"Now it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter. And Jesus walked in the temple, in Solomon’s porch." John 10: 22-23

Cool, huh?

Here's a Happy Hanukkah from me to you!

It Just So Happens...

A guest post by my dad, Randy, about the true "Christmas"...

I grew up celebrating Christmas. Every year my parents would help us shop for one another. I loved buying gifts for my family and friends! But to be honest, it wasn’t so much the giving; it was how I wanted them to appreciate how well I had shopped. I wanted them to see how well I knew them in order to be able to buy for them the best gift!

We would all go to church Christmas Eve. My dad would leave early and put out the Santa gifts so they would be there, to our amazement, when we returned home…then we would open most of the gifts, one by one, with lots of thankful hugs, and perhaps save one gift for Christmas morning. All the while munching on holiday cookies and fudge my mom had been storing for months!

I loved the Christmas tree at night. The shiny bulbs, the colorful lights, the mounds of presents under it!

In Messianic Judaism, which to me is a return to the faith of Jesus Christ (Yeshua HaMashiach) and his disciples, what we do or what we don’t do, is solely determined by what God says. Regarding Christmas, he says nothing. There is no Christmas story in the Bible. "What!?" You say, "What about the story in the gospels about Jesus birth and the wise men and the shepherds..."

That event wasn’t on “Christmas”, but it was a holiday, or should I say Holy Day. Long before the time of Jesus’ birth, God had revealed His Holy Days to the brand new nation of Israel. He said they were His days, and He was showing these days to them. (Leviticus 23:2-4,37,44)
It just so happens that each and every one of them points to our Messiah and what he did, and what he will do!

He was born on the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles.
John 1:14 (“dwelt”; lit. “tabernacled”); Rev. 21:3 (speaking of Christ as the “tabernacle of God”)
For an in depth study on why we believe Yeshua was born on Feast of Tabernacles, or Sukkot, see : http://bethhamashiach.com/whenwasYeshuaborn.htm

He was circumcised on the Eighth Day.
Luke 2:21

He was crucified on Passover.
Exodus 12:11; 1 Cor. 5:7

He was buried in the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
Exodus 12:15-19; 1 Cor. 5:7,8

He was resurrected on Firstfruits.
Exodus 23:16; 1 Cor. 15:20-23; James 1:18; Rev. 4:4

He baptized the new church on Pentecost.
Mark 1:8; Acts 2:4

He will return as King and resurrect the dead on Feast of Trumpets.
Matt. 24:31; 1 Cor. 15:52; 1 Thes. 4:16

He will judge the world on the Day of Atonement.
Acts 10:42; 17:31 (“appointed a day”); Rom. 2:16; 1 Cor. 4:5; 2 Tim. 4:1 & 8; Rev. 19:11

He will live as King on earth beginning at Feast of Tabernacles.
2 Cor. 6:16; Rev. 21:3

And he will create a new heaven and a new earth on the Eighth Day.
Isaiah 65:17;66:22; 2 Peter 3:13; Rev. 21:1

So, every feast day revealed by God reveals the person and work of His Son, Yeshua the Messiah.

God tells us to remember His holy days and this is why. It just so happens Yeshua was born on one of them, but that was God’s plan all along! So we don’t celebrate Christmas, but we recognize, remember, and celebrate God’s holy days, and it just so happens Yeshua was born on one! A coincidence? You decide!

More on "Being Jewish" - Eating Kosher

If you've been reading my blog for a while now, or seen pictures of the boys in my family, you've probably guessed that we're Messianic Jews. Well, on top of celebrating the Feasts, believing that the Sabbath is on Saturday and keeping the boy's side locks (peyot), we also eat kosher. My mom wrote a great post all about the reasons why we eat that way, and how it's Biblical, on her blog, Fresh Thoughts From the Laundry Room. Go check it out! She did a great job explaining most of the questions people have about eating kosher, and even the deal with kosher salt. :)

Past Sukkots

Well, I know Sukkot has long been over, but I thought it might be fun to post some pictures of a couple of past Sukkots. I would put up this year's Sukkot pictures, but do to our computer having issues, we haven't been able to get them uploaded. But, you can read about what we did this year for the feast on Mother Dear's post, Visitors.

Sukkot 2006, when we went to Oregon to join other Messianic believers for eight days to celebrate the feast:

At the Shabbat dinner:

Active Boy loved playing the bongos with one of the guys at worship time!

MIT #2 was so little back then!! Here she is waving a flag with all the other kids.

Everyone helped out in building the sukkah!

Active Boy blowing the shofar...

Sukkot 2005, at home. We built our own sukkah, and just celebrated with each other.

Our sukkah:


Some of the boys, getting ready to go to sleep. It actually ended up that each of them, one at a time, trickled in to get into their cozy warm beds. :)


Singing Christmas songs (Jesus was born on Sukkot, you know), tweaked a bit for the holiday. :)


I would love to hear about your Sukkot if you celebrated it this year! How did it go?

Sukkot: A Feast of the Lord

Last Sunday night the Feast of Tabernacles began, which is "Sukkot" in Hebrew. Our family greatly enjoys celebrating this holiday every year, and I have asked my dad to share what it is all about, and why we celebrate it. If you have any questions or comments for him, feel free to send him an e-mail to the address at the bottom of this post.

And now, here is my father explaining the Biblical feast, Sukkot.

In Leviticus 23:2 God says “these are my feasts” when referring to the festivals Moses presented to Israel to observe. Over the centuries they have been the Guardians of the Feasts of God and developed the practices involved with them. Since these feasts belong to the Lord it benefits any believer that would take the time to know how to celebrate them.

God calls His Feasts “moedim” which means “appointments, memorials, rehearsals”. As such, those who observe these feasts learn more about the Messiah and prepare for things to come.

Without going into a lot of detail about each feast, let it be known that it is self-evident that each one portrays the ministry of the Messiah, Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus Christ). There are three spring holy days that were fulfilled with his first coming and there are four fall holy days or feasts that will be fulfilled with his return.

The Passover/Feast of Unleavened Bread (Pesach pronounced PAY-SOCK) revealed him as the Lamb of God and the matzah without leaven (sin) pierced, bruised and broken for us. (1 Cor. 5:6-8)

Firstfruits (Yom Bikkurim) revealed him as the firstborn from the dead. 1 Cor. 15:23, Rom. 8:29, Col. 1:18

Pentecost (Shavuot) revealed him as the one who writes the law on our hearts. (The Law of Moses was given on the first Pentecost) Jer. 31:33, Rom. 2:15

THESE WERE ALL FULFILLED BY YESHUA!
THESE FALL FEASTS HAVE YET TO BE FULFILLED BY HIM:

Feast of Trumpets (Rosh HaShanah): the resurrection of the dead (the last trump) & the announcement of the King Messiah; reveals him as Giver of Life and King of Kings.

Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur): Final Judgment including that of the scapegoat (Satan) reveals him as the Merciful Judge.

Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot): reveals him as the first Tabernacle God dwelt in; God will dwell in/with all mankind eternally.

The Eighth (Day) of Assembly (Shemini Atzeret): reveals the Age to Come, when the Son will give up all things to the Father (1 Cor. 15:28), when there will be a new heaven and a new earth. (Rev. 21:1)

Particulars about Sukkot: each family builds a sukkah (think manger) and as much as possible, eats and sleeps in it every day for a week. This recalls the 40 years Israel spent in the wilderness dwelling in sukkot. It also recalls the incarnation of the Word of God who was born on this feast day (think Christmas). It is a harvest-time festival and hence a time of thanksgiving (think Thanksgiving).

It is a custom to leave some seats open for heavenly guests (known as Ushpizim): Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Joseph, and David, who collectively are known as the Shepherds of Israel. Yeshua referred to a future time when this will literally come to pass. (Matt. 8:11)

The 7th day of this Festival is known as Hoshanah Rabbah (The Great Supplication) and was the occasion for something called the Water Libation. Priests would collect water from the Pool of Siloam. They would lead a parade of rejoicing worshippers to the Temple where the water would be poured out on the altar. It was at this occasion that Yeshua said: “If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believes on me, as the scripture has said, Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” John 7:37,38

In conclusion, I hope that the reader will “search all things, prove those that are excellent”.
“To him is the glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all the generations of the Age of the Ages. Amen.”

Blessings,

Randy (shep98270@yahoo.com)

Rosh Hashana

Today is Rosh Hashana - the Jewish new year! L'Shana Tova (A Good Year)! May you have a sweet new year, filled with joy.

Now, I'm sure you're wondering what this thing is all about, so run on over to Mother Dear's blog and read the great post she wrote, to learn all about it. I could tell you myself, but she did such a good job explaining, I'll let her. :)

Make sure to leave her a comment to expressing your thanks!