We've moved!

Journey to Messiah has a new location.

Be sure to follow us at www.journeytomessiah.com

 New home base, but still journeying toward the Messiah.

Is Everything Now Clean?

We typically hear that God did away with the laws of clean and unclean in Peter’s vision.  But is that true?  Is that really what He did?  Let’s go to Peter’s own explanation to find out.

In Acts 11:4 Luke tells us, “Peter began explaining in detail what happened.”  Then in verse 9 Peter says, “But the voice spoke again from heaven: ‘Stop treating as unclean what God has made clean.’”  And at that very moment the Gentiles showed up.  

What I hear God saying to Peter is that man is created clean and shouldn’t be lumped in with the creepy, crawly things.  Can I tell you when I first saw this it blew my mind?  How many times have we heard the quote, ‘our righteousness is as filthy rags’?  Being a filthy rag is a far cry from being clean.  But when we look at the whole of God’s Word, we gain better understanding.

Let's use this chart for reference, courtesy of Rabbi Matthew Salathe:

God created things in their natural state as common.  (Anything that is not holy is common.)  Within the category of common, things are either clean or unclean.  

Pigs, in their natural state, are unclean.  It’s not a judgment against them; it is simply how God created them.  Common unclean things can never be made holy.

Man, on the other hand, is created clean.  True, left to our own devices we become polluted by sin and end up unclean.  BUT, we are not unclean in our common state.  This means we can be cleansed and made holy.  (Now the visual of the filthy rags is making more sense.  Before a rag becomes filthy, it's clean, isn't it?)

So how do we go from filthy rags to clean?  The same way the Israelites did – by believing God and trusting in what He said.  God told the Israelites that a blood sacrifice would cleanse them.  Through the sacrifice, they could enter into His presence and live.  

Like them, we believe God when He says that Jesus is the Lamb sacrificed for the sin of the world.  Jesus’ blood cleanses us.  Jesus makes us clean again.  And being clean, we can enter into the presence of the Father and live.

Now think for a moment.  Because the Gentiles were so polluted with sin (and unrepentant) the Israelites came to believe their natural state - their common created state - was unclean.  As unclean, they could never be made clean, which means they could never be exposed to the Holy God and live.

So the Lord revealed to Peter in a vision that the Gentiles should not be lumped in with the common unclean ‘four-footed animals, beasts of prey, crawling creatures, and wild birds.’  Instead, Peter realized that though the Gentiles were polluted by sin, God had created them clean.  And as such they could repent, be cleansed, and have life[1].

So I ask you, is everything now clean? 

---

[1] Acts 11:18

What's Wine Got to do With It?

Here’s something that always puzzled me: why, at His last Seder, did Jesus say that He wouldn’t drink wine again?  (Matthew 26:26)  It always seemed significant.  After all, He did say it and it was important enough to be remembered and recorded.  But what it meant was beyond my grasp.  So I did what most of us do when we read something in scripture that we don’t quite understand – we move on.

But today, I’m asking you to pause for a moment.  Come with me as I join Jesus and the disciples in the Upper room.  But be warned, my imagination often gets away from me.

So here we are in the Upper room.  Jesus has just said the blessing over the wine and told us it is His blood.  So far, so good.  Not a happy moment, but one that is necessary.  But here’s where things get strange.

Jesus looks me right in the eyes and says, “I tell you, I will not drink this fruit of the vine again until the day I drink new wine with you in my Father’s Kingdom”.

I nod my head with that blank look on my face, much like the village idiot.  Glancing from one disciple to the other, I see them waiting for the light to dawn.  I continue to nod, feeling dumber by the minute.  Finally I mutter, “Okay then” as I proceed to exit stage left – hoping to find some morsel of information I can understand.

Can you hear the canned laughter as Jesus looks to heaven; like a parent with an incorrigible child? 

Had I searched the scriptures diligently, I would have discovered what Jesus was saying.  In Leviticus 10:9 the Lord instructs the priests not to drink wine when they are coming into the tent of meeting.  Remember, the tent of meeting is the sanctuary.  And the Lord instructed Moses to build it after the pattern of the one in heaven.

So you see, Jesus really was making a bold statement, and it went right over my head.  He told His disciples (and that includes us) that He was about to enter the heavenly sanctuary to minister before the Lord as high priest.

NOW I get it!

New Moon, New View

Have you ever spent time just looking up at the stars?  When I homeschooled, we spent a season in astronomy.  Lying on a blanket in the yard and gazing up at the marvelous works of the Lord was truly amazing.

Yet it’s strange how I never connected the beauty of His handiwork with times and seasons.  Yet it’s right there in Genesis.  On the fourth day He created the lights in the sky for times and seasons.  

To be fair, coming from a gentile background, I missed the import of this verse because I didn’t have the insight of Judaism to enlighten me.  That’s what is so exciting about this walk!  The more we learn from Judaism, the bigger our God gets.  And the bigger He is, the more intimate our relationship.

Not long ago, a friend asked if our singles group could gather to celebrate Rosh Chodesh.  After seeing the blank look on my face, he explained that it was a time to thank the Lord for the blessings of the past month and pray for the needs of the month ahead.  This sounded good, so I agreed.

Now anyone who knows me knows that I seldom do anything half way.  So I started digging into Rosh Chodesh.  What I discovered about this little known, little observed occasion was huge!

For starters, God instituted this commandment when the Israelites were still slaves in Egypt (Ex 12:1-2).  Could this be the start of being set apart as a peculiar people?  Think about it.  The Egyptians worshiped the sun-god Ra.  The Lord told His people to mark their calendars not by the sun, but by the moon.

So what would happen if they couldn’t mark the beginning of the months?  How could they celebrate the feasts of the Lord?  They couldn’t, which explains why the Greeks forbid them from observing Rosh Chodesh.  No Rosh Chodesh, no annual festivals.  No annual festivals, no obedience to God.

Now Rosh Chodesh is not a festival listed in Leviticus.  So why celebrate?  And how should we celebrate?  Well, as I dug into this occasion, I found that tradition sets this as a Sabbath for women.  And during the synagogue service there are special scriptures read to remember this occasion.  They also announce what day Rosh Chodesh will fall on, so that you and your family know when to go outside and honor the Lord.

So as a group, we gather for a shared meal, blessing the Lord for the wine and the bread.  We then venture outside to read scripture, join hands in prayer of thanksgiving and petition, and end with songs of praise to our Father who is Creator of all that we see.  And it has a lasting effect all month long.

You see, this occasion no longer seems important because we can predict the times and seasons.  But I think we’ve lost something very precious.  Our Father gave us a date night with Him.  He holds out His hand, asking us to join Him in the beauty of His creation, marveling at the splendor of His majesty, and reveling in the comfort of His love.  Why would we stand Him up?

And personally, in celebrating the beginning of each new month, I have a new view of the moon and am more aware of its phases.  Each night as I gaze up at the sky and see the moon waxing and waning, I realize how quickly time is passing.  And I must ask - am I wasting this precious gift of time, or am I following in the steps of my Master, doing the work God has called me to do?

Hear and Understand

Do we really understand what we hear?  When we listen to the words of Jesus, do we get the message?

I was on Facebook today and Toby Janicki shared an article by Michael Hidalgo called “4 Things that Jesus Never Said”.  Toby quoted a paragraph that points out how Jesus taught more on living in the here and now than He did about where we go when we die.

While this is an important point, what really caught my eye was the opening paragraph:

In the history of human kind, few people have been as widely quoted as Jesus.  Which also means few have been misquoted as often as Jesus.  I don’t mean we quote verses incorrectly; rather we associate thoughts, opinions, words and phrases with Jesus and the Bible that actually may not be there.

This struck a chord.  You see, a young lady recently asked me to disciple her.  After a few meetings I could see we needed a clear direction of where to take this endeavor.  Can I tell you that there is very little on the market talking about true discipleship?

A few years ago I wrote a study guide for Greg Laurie’s book, “Discipleship: The Next Step in Following Jesus”.  The study was in depth.  It made you look deep into the mirror of the Word.  You came away realizing this is a serious, life-long commitment.  Unfortunately, the book is out of print so the guide doesn’t do a lot of good.

However, Darren Huckey recently wrote an insightful book “The Four Responsibilities of a Disciple”.  My

friend and I have been going through his book one chapter a week.

So this morning I re-read chapter 3 for our next meeting.  In this chapter, Darren discusses the 2^nd responsibility of a disciple – memorization.  Here he makes a valid point. We must do more than just memorize Jesus’ words.  We must understand the meaning of His words.

Darren gives good examples from history where the words of three different theologians are remembered, but the meaning is distorted.  The words are right, but the meaning is changed.  Like the article above points out, we can quote verses correctly, but attach opinions that don’t line up with the Word of God.

As I study the Jewish roots of my faith, I see this is far more the norm than the exception.  Jesus came with a wonderful message, “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”  Paul continued in that same vein.  We, unfortunately, memorize their words but miss the richness and depth of their message.

God wants to tabernacle with us in the here and now.  Could anything be better than that?