Rabbi’s Reflections – Wednesday, February 12, 2020 

Shalom,

Pillar Five: The Kingdom is Expressed in a Life of Character – part 6                                                 

This is the last writing on Pillar 5.  Tomorrow we start on Pillar 6.  Okay, I’m only going to say this once (today).  Dan Juster has written some great pearls of wisdom in the “12 Pillars” document (which has been turned into a book).  I offered a few weeks ago to send it to anyone who wanted to read it.  Today I’m just going to grab three of his pearls (there are many more) and write my thoughts on why I think these gems deserves recognition.  They are all taken from the part of Pillar 5 about which I have not yet written.

Pearl #1: “We seek to establish his(sic) order in every sphere of life.”  (“His” refers to God and should be capitalized.  It’s a typo in the quoted text.)  God is saying to us, “Aych Sidarti Otcha” (Otach if you’re female), “How I put you in order.”  We usually say this in Israel when we get “one up” on someone.  God says it to us because He really does put us into His divine order.  

Everything in God’s kingdom has a purpose (or destiny).  Everything fits.  Out of order biology is called disease.  Out of order desires are called abomination.  When we become believers (followers of “the way”), God begins to order every area of our lives; finances, professional life, relationships, and hobbies.  What would we hold back from the King of kings?

Pearl #2: “We are to live free of worry.”  If anything needs to be “worried” about, let God do the worrying.  Hint: God hasn’t worried about anything since opening day (and there was no opening day).  Luke 12:25 “And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? 26 So if you cannot do even something very little, why do you worry about other things?  

This is not me recommending we all become like Alfred E. Newman (look it up if you have to), but that submit everything unto God, and leave it there.  We only worry when we take an issue from His altar and think we can handle it better than He.

Pearl #3: “Those submitted are strong in conscience and submitted without servility.”  We are all submitted to God.  That’s the easy part.  After all, God is God, and we are not God.  The unspoken part is that He is perfect, which makes it easy to submit to Him.  We are servants of God, but we are also children of God.  

And we are also called to live lives submitted one to another.  Ephesians 5:21 Also submit yourselves to one another out of reverence for Messiah.  This is not so easy because none of us has the perfection of God.  I like Dan’s use of the phrase “submitted without servility.”  We are to be submitted to what is of God, but not to be doormats for ungodly demands.  

This leads me to my final comment on character.  What is the godly response to ungodly demands?  The flesh wants to be offended.  But if we allow offense in any situation, we have to allow it in every situation.  We are warned in Scripture… Luke 17:1 Then Yeshua said to His disciples, “Stumbling blocks are bound to come, but woe to the one by whom they come!  

Okay, we know what not to do, but then, what do we do?  We speak the truth in love as we grow to maturity in Messiah Yeshua… Ephesians 4:14 As a result, we are no longer to be like children, tossed around by the waves and blown all over by every wind of teaching, by the trickery of men with cunning in deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all ways into Messiah, who is the Head.

Week 7
Memory Verse: John 1:29 The next day, John sees Yeshua coming to him and says, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

31    2/10      Monday:        Exodus 8-9

32    2/11     Tuesday:         Exodus 10-11

* 33  2/12     Wednesday:   Exodus 12

34    2/13     Thursday:       Exodus 13:17-14

35    2/14     Friday:            Exodus 16-17

Question of the day:  Why is this night different from all other nights?

Answer:  This is the big question as we begin celebrating Passover (Pesach).  God has given us a huge image; a distinction between the heathen and the faithful.  Those who have the sign of the cross of blood are protected and those who do not are visited by the angel of death.  Could the picture be any clearer?  

The lamb is slain… John 1:29 The next day, John sees Yeshua coming to him and says, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

His blood… Romans 3:25 God set forth Yeshua as an atonement, through faith in His blood, to show His righteousness in passing over sins already committed.

The cross… 1 Corinthians 1:18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Leads us to resurrected life… Philippians 3:10 My aim is to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the sharing of His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death— 11 if somehow I might arrive at the resurrection from among the dead.

I hope this blessed you to read it.  It blessed me to write it.  Shalom (again).