Be Made New: Spiritually
February 11, 2024Pastor Patrick presented today's message, "Be Made New: Spiritually." A video of the message is here.
Pastor Patrick's message offered answers to the question, "How do we get closer to God?"
This suggests another question, "Where is God?" In Prager's Exodus commentary (pp. 369-370, see the Credits tab), he tells of Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk challenging his followers with this question: "Where does God exist?" While a bit puzzled, they mostly answered "God is everywhere." The rabbi responded with, "No, God exists wherever man lets Him in." And how do we let God in? When we are "good and just to others" (per Prager).
The answer immediately above directly relates to Patrick's comment: "You are as close to God as you choose to be." I think the Torah would say "as you choose to behave."
This gets us to the answer to another question Pastor Patrick asked today: How do I align my interests with God's purposes?
Basically, the Torah's answer to that is "Love your neighbors, widows, orphans, and strangers by being good and just." And if you want detail on how to be good and just, the Torah has the greatest concentration of do-these and don't-do-those in the Bible.
Once you manage to get close to God, the work is not over. You have to work at staying close to God. This is why "remembering" is such a key theme in the Torah. Among other things, festivals are established to remember things. Every day is an opportunity to "remember" (teach) for your children. Without constant effort, remembering, you will drift away again, or simply forget about it. See Exodus 10:2 and Genesis 40:23.
"Do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord." Deuteronomy 6:18.
"In all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:6.
Another part to relating to God is to fear Him. It's not fear like quaking in your boots. It's understanding to whom you will actually answer some day. See Exodus 19:16.
One way not to relate to God, or that is frowned upon, in the Torah, is to make deals with God. Making deals in the Torah is called making a vow. "If You (God) do ____, I'll do ____; or vice versa. There is a Nazarite law in the Torah that spells out a proper way to make a vow, but, and here's the kicker, even if done right it's considered a sin! Numbers 6:1-21.
Bonus
Prohibited Work on the Sabbath
As long as we're using Prager's Exodus commentary, check out p. 430 for a brief discussion about what the work is that is prohibited on the Sabbath. First, it's not the Hebrew word that means work as we think of it today (avodah). Rather, the Hebrew word melakah is used. From the Chabad.org website we found this summary of what that work is about: "Work" as it relates to Shabbat rest, is not physical exertion, but "creative work" and "mastery of nature." For example, writing, cooking, growing, weaving, and trapping are melakahs while carrying a heavy piece of furniture across the room is not." By not doing these creative/controlling works, we recognize that God is the Ultimate Creator/Controller, and we are not. One of the key reasons for Shabbat is to celebrate God as Creator. For a detailed list of these "creative works" from Judaism's point of view, click here.
Bonus2
The Lost Three
In today's message, Pastor Patrick mentioned the story of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32). Did you know that the Lost Son is the third of three "parables of the lost" in Luke 15? The first is the Lost Sheep (Luke 15:1-7) and the second is the Lost Coin (Luke 15:8-10).
The RVL Discipleship Study (again, see the Credits tab) had an episode called "The Lost" (S2E10). The focus of this course of study is discipleship. The teacher, Ray Vander Laan (RVL), points out that, in each case, the disciple that brings the lost back to the fold (the shepherd, the woman, and the father) do all the work. The sheep does nothing and the coin does nothing. It's arguable that the son did do something, but in the grand scheme of things, getting the son safely back into the flock, the family, including the villagers acceptance, was successfully accomplished entirely by the father: his running and his celebrating with the best he had. The father had to "overdo it," otherwise the ANE (Ancient Near Eastern) villagers would have "cut off" the son for squandering the patriarch's fortune (at least in part) and leaving so disrespectfully. These were big deals in the ANE.
The point... To be a discpiple of Christ, you have to go after the lost (in any sense of that word) and be prepared to put in ALL the effort to get the lost one(s) back into the fold (or into the fold in the first place).
