Statement of Faith

There is one God--the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Yeshua is YHWH revealed in human flesh, born of a virgin, and an incarnation of the one God. Scripture is inspired of God and constitutes the perspicuous and plenary special revelation of God. The covenant with Abraham, given as a Torah to Jacob, and confirmed through Yeshua is one and eternal never to be abrogated by man. Yeshua the Messiah died vicariously on behalf of all sinners, rose from the dead on the third day, and bodily ascended into Heaven.Yeshua will return physically to inaugurate the kingdom of God and will physically reign upon the Earth.

Sunday, December 3, 2006

Community Markers II (Love)

Love

A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another: as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another
(John 13:34-35)

Let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.
(I John 3:18)

Yeshua through His suffering of the greatest cosmic injustice conceivable—the Creator suffering and dying on our behalf—expressed unprecedented love to the fallen and feeble. Through His example the love of God was spoken not as a word, nor in tongue but as the living and dying Word of God. In light of the vicarious death of Yeshua, the mitswah to love our neighbor finds its most profound example. Yeshua states, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”

How is this love to inform our living or our application of Torah (viz, halakhah)? It is immediately apparent that Yeshua intended to challenge the ethnocentric or even covenantalistic paradigms of love displayed among His people. In Luke 10:29, Yeshua is asked, “Who is my neighbor?” Yeshua clearly demonstrates through the example of the Good Samaritan that the love expressed in Torah was not bubbled. The bubbles of His people included those of Judaic and/or sectarian identity. Today these bubbles are our immediate cultures and congregations. Rather than bubbled love, Yeshua desires effervescent love. Effervescent love bubbles over—it overflows as the living waters (mayim chayim) of the Spirit.

Yeshua’s example of love provides a paradigm that must inform our Torah observance. In community, it is easy to love one another’s virtues, but we must also accept each others’ vices. The apostle Peter states, “And above all things have fervent love among yourselves; for love shall cover the multitude of sins” (I Peter 4:8). This is love expressed by tolerance and grace. Tolerance must be exhibited for the disappointments and variegations in observance and doctrine in our communities. Such love, though, does not sugar coat sins of willful rebellion, but it allows grace to garnish growth.

Paul states, Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others” (Phil 2:3-4). Another expression of love is to put aside our pursuit of significance and esteem in order to esteem others. How beautiful is this?

Yeshua’s love is illustrated also in His observance of Shabbat. Rather than allowing the priority of Shabbat to limit His ministry on Shabbat, Yeshua used the occasion of Shabbat to perform some of His most dramatic illustrations of love vis-à-vis Torah observance. On Shabbat Yeshua was willing to perform work (“melakhah”) in order to show love and redemption to His neighbor. Redemptive or restorative love must inspire our observance of Shabbat. To ignore Yeshua’s example risks denigrating Shabbat into a day of restrictive taboos where redemptive action is excused for the sake of inactive piety.

By this shall all know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another...

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Shalom, I just found your blog from the Torahresource forums. So you live up in the suburbs? Is there a Messianic congregation that you attend up there?

I live down in Lincoln (between Peoria and Springfield) and am part of a congretation in Peoria (Gates of Eden). If you're ever downstate on Shabbat, stop on by!

PeterS (Tzuriel) said...

Hello Seth

I noticed that you attend the Gates of Eden congregation. Daniel Botkin was helpful, very helpful, for me earlier in my walk with God as I was learning the relevance of Torah.

We live in the Chicago suburbs. You are always welcome to come for a Shabbat with my family. No congregation, but we are considering a move to Ft. Wayne, IN where there is a growing Torah community.

Thank you for the invite.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, Daniel has a great way of explaining the necessity of Torah to Christians.