As followers of Jesus, do we look different from the people of
the world? Does our lifestyle clearly say that
we are a peculiar people[1]? Or when the world looks at us, do they see
nothing that says we belong to the King of the Universe? Sadly, I believe the latter is often true.
God told the Israelites (in Leviticus 18:3) “You shall not
do what is done in the land of Egypt where you lived, nor are you to do what is
done in the land of Canaan where I am bringing you; you shall not walk in their
statutes.”
Paul repeats this same teaching in his letter to the Romans when
he writes, “Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the
renewing of your mind.”[2] How do we do this? Paul gives us the answer in his letter to
Timothy. He tells him, “Timothy, you’ve
been reading the sacred writings since you were a kid. These are what you need to use to teach, reprove,
correct and train people in right living. (My paraphrase of 2 Tim 3:15-16.)
What too many people don’t realize is that when Paul wrote his
letter to Timothy, there was no ‘New Testament’. That means the sacred writings Paul referred
to was the Tanakh - the Torah, the Prophets and the Writings.
So, when Christians don’t know Torah – God’s standard of
right living – how can we possibly know what we are and are not supposed to do?
How can we live lives that cause people to know that we belong to God?
Unfortunately, there has been such a mindset against Torah, coupled
with an over emphasis on grace and non-judgment, that many Christians ignore
what happened to Ananias and Sapphira in the book of Acts. Instead they chose to believe they can do
whatever they want and it is okay with God because He is full of grace and mercy.
However, when you look at Torah as being a set of
instructions on how to love God and man, you realize the Torah is
full of mercy and grace, yet it is also full of consequences for wrong
action. Why? Because God disciplines
those He loves.[3]
And Jesus didn’t change that. He clearly said, “Until heaven
and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen,
will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.”[4]
When we strive to live our lives lined up with the Word of
God - His instructions for right living - then we stand out from the crowd of
humanity. When we chose to obey God when
He tells us not to live like the people of the world live, not according to
their statutes and laws, but according to His statutes and laws,
people see a difference in us. And in
seeing that difference, they want to know the God who made us different.
Choosing to live by God’s standards found in Torah does not
give us salvation. But once saved, should
we not strive to be the ‘peculiar people’ God calls us to be?
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