Rabbi’s Reflections – Monday, March 3, 2020
Shalom,
Pillar Nine: The Kingdom is Expressed in Discipling the Nations – part 1
Finally, we arrive at the “great commission.” It only took until pillar 9. If these pillars are ranked in importance, how is it “discipling the nations” got in 9th place? Because we need to see God’s call to get us right before we are ready to go and share what we are applying in our own lives. To get that out of order is a perfect set-up for hypocrisy.
Most people think of the great commission as “evangelism.” It isn’t. Evangelism is only the first step in evangelism (That’s either profound or stupid. You decide.) In fact, now that I think about it, the pattern is to win people to the Lord through discipleship. Discipleship is simply sharing the principles of God, both before someone comes to faith and afterward.
Let me add to that. The idea that someone could come to the Lord (or that anyone would lead someone to the Lord) without the opportunity to grow into that faith through discipleship, should be foreign to our understanding of growing to maturity.
2 Peter 3:15 Bear in mind that the patience of our Lord means salvation—just as our dearly loved brother Paul also wrote to you with the wisdom given to him. 16 He speaks about these matters in all of his letters. Some things in them are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist (as they also do with the rest of the Scriptures)—to their own destruction. 17 Since you already know all this, loved ones, be on your guard so that you are not led astray by the error of the lawless and lose your sure footing. 18 Instead, keep growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Yeshua the Messiah. To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity! Amen.
Connection to the body of Messiah is critical to our survival and growth. There is a reason wheat is grown in a wheat field. Think about it. Who would plant one wheat plant by itself? We need each other.
Week 10
Memory Verse: Leviticus 26:13 I am Adonai your God, who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, so that you would not be their slaves, and I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk upright.
46 3/2 Monday: Leviticus 23
* 47 3/3 Tuesday: Leviticus 26
48 3/4 Wednesday: Numbers 11-12
49 3/5 Thursday: Numbers 13-14
50 3/6 Friday: Numbers 16-17
Question of the day: Don’t you just love the Bible? I do! The memory verse for this week comes from the reading from today. I love it when God says, “I have… made you walk upright.” Can we unpack that phrase today?
Answer: We sure can, and better than anybody.
Rabbi Trail: You can only say things like “better than anybody” if you are truly humble (which I am). In Yiddish we say, “Moishe Rabbaynu” (Moses, our rabbi). It was Moishe Rabbaynu who wrote about himself in the Torah, Numbers 12:3 Now the man Moses was very humble, more so than anyone on the face of the earth.
I love the guy who is asked in the interview, “What is your greatest fault or shortcoming?” And he answers, “Well, my friends tell me I’m too humble.” (Yes, I crack me up.). End RT.
In bringing us out of Egypt, God is saying, “I have made you walk upright. The Hebrew word, “Qomemiyyut” is only used this once in the entire Bible. There are plenty of other times where “upright” is used in English, but always in connection with another Hebrew word (for another day).
This word for today is actually built upon a much simpler word, “Qum.” Qum means “to rise up.” We pray a form of this word in the Shema when we say “when you lie down and when you rise up” in Deuteronomy 6:7b. (U’V’Kum’e’cha – yes, a 5 syllable word made out of “Kum.”)
God has created in us a people for Himself who will “rise up.” Ephesians 2:6 And He raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Messiah Yeshua. According to the previous verse (Eph 2:5) what we have in being raised up with Him is life from the dead.
Please hear me on this…. This is a game changer. So let’s not act as if it isn’t. Romans 6:4 Therefore we were buried together with Him through immersion into death—in order that just as Messiah was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have become joined together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also will be joined together in His resurrection.
Say a prayer of thanksgiving to the One who gives us new life. Then have a blessed day or night (depending on when you’re reading this). Shalom (this time it means TTFN).