Teaching Team
Voiding The Torah
Paul sums it up quite well "Without love I am nothing" teaching whatever we are doing, if we do not do it with selfless love, we do it in vain.
...I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. 1 Corinthians 13:2-3
Selfless love is expressed in actions that do not benefit us in any way, actions solely for another's benefit.
- If I have such a thorough knowledge of the Word that I can answer every question with sound doctrine, but do not let that Word do its work in my heart I may as well have been illiterate. We need to give each other the benefit of the doubt.
- If I am willing to die a martyr's death for my faith, while speaking ill of others genuine and simple faith criticizing them with my tongue, my martyrdom would be vanity. We need judge others favorably.
- If I feed the homeless and give to the poor, but my motive for doing so is not genuine love, my deeds are disingenuous and will not withstand God's scrutiny. We need to open our hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing.
- If I have a confidence in God so strong that through His power I overcome great obstacles, but do not have selfless love it means nothing. We need to trust that God is equally at work in each of our hearts and lives.
Paul teaches that if we are claiming to be believers but are not bearing the fruit of love then our knowledge and our witness to the world is nothing more than a clanging cymbal. Just as clanging cymbal is obnoxious, so to a pious person without civility is obnoxious.
Jesus and Paul recognized the pitfalls in handling the Torah. They understood that when the Torah was used as a manual for rote observance the fruit of that observance would be legalism, not love; external piety, not transformed hearts. Empty, external observances are not what God wants from us. This approach to Torah does not produce a sincere relationship with God nor positive and life producing relationships with fellow man.
So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. I Corinthians 13:13
Jesus teaches us that the greatest commands are to love: love of God, love of fellow. When we submit our lives to the Torah out of love for God and love for others, genuine change takes place.The foundation of 1 Corinthians 13 is laid. As we allow God's Spirit to infuse our beings with the obedient life of Messiah, that life inside of us will work its way out through our actions and produce in us a genuine, heart-felt love for others. The apostle John explains this process by saying,
...but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may be sure that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. (1 John 2:5-6)
When we are living out God's Word, then His love is perfected in us and flows out through us. If our obedience to Torah does not result in genuine love, then we are missing the purpose of the Torah. Conversely, if our attempts at love do not result in lives lived in obedience to Scripture, then we are missing the path of genuine love for God and devotion to Messiah.
- We void any good deed while being internally and externally bitter and judgmental.
- The very Torah we claim to love if not followed out of a love for God is discredited.
- If our Torah observance is not primarily displayed by our respect and love for others it means nothing.
For many Torah unfortunate becomes a platform to stand upon to judge others and critique the spiritual lives of other brother's in Messiah. This is wrong and tarnishes the goodness in God's Law. The Torah has much to offer Christians but can only be understood and embraced under the umbrella of ones love for man and love for God. Or rather, out of our opportunity to serve God with love and serve fellow man by love.
Join with us in sharing the love of God by sharing his word through the HaYesod program. Start a HaYesod group in your home, church or congregation.
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Visitor Feedback:
Beautiful. This topic could take up an entire issue of Messiah Journal, and the discussion is sorely needed. Thanks for the balance.
MJ
MJ Belko | October 20, 2009 8:44 AM
Baruch Hashem Brother Michael. Our Abba is love. Thank you so much for the conviction, and reflection. Its nice to be reminded.
Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.--1 John 4:8
Danny A. Fluker Jr. | October 20, 2009 10:22 AM
"Judging one another favorably" is one of those principles in Judaism that one can find several articles on. We have traveled and met many different people in many different "strains" (coming from gardeners) of Messianicness. We also came to the same conclusion: We need to trust that God is equally at work in each of our hearts and lives.
Don & Leslie | October 20, 2009 6:13 PM
My pastor has agreed to run the HaYesod program... we live in exciting times. When they see us actually living like Yeshua, in love of our fellow believers, our fellow man as well as Torah, they will know us by that love...
Daniel Hennessy | October 25, 2009 7:38 PM