This Shabbat is known as “Shabbat Shekalim” the first of four special Sabbaths leading to Passover. The half-shekel offering in the Temple was a requirement given in Ex. 30:13 for every male aged 20 years or above that holds great significance. But the reason I am making reference to it now is specifically because today marks a new season in a new venue for Mekudeshet and we are excited for everything the Lord has in store for us. And I want to link this thought with a challenge through sharing a true story told by the late Rabbi, Jonathan Sacks.
“There is an ultra-nationalist party in Hungary which is growing in influence known as Jobbik which is deeply racist and anti-semitic. Until 2012 one of its leading members was a politician in his late 20s, Csanad Szegedi. But one day Szegedi discovered he was a Jew. His maternal grandparents were Jewish survivors of Auschwitz and half of his family were killed during the Holocaust.
After Auschwitz his grandparents, who had been Orthodox Jews, decided to hide their identity completely. When his mother was 14, her father told her the secret but made her promise not to reveal it to anyone.
What was Szegedi to do about the truth that had been revealed about himself that contradicted all his beliefs he had cherished and fought for? How could he now deal with the deeply rooted anti-Semitism that he so actively promoted? The truth about his Jewish ancestry with the realisation that he was Jewish began to change his life and transformed his understanding of the world.
The Torah emphasises the point time and again: the rabbis said that the command to love the stranger appears 36 times in the Torah. Note that these commands are given shortly after the exodus. Implicit in them is a very radical idea indeed. Care for the stranger is why the Israelites had to experience exile and slavery before they could enter the Promised Land and build their own society and state. You will not succeed in caring for the stranger, implies God, until you yourselves know in your very bones and sinews what it feels like to be a stranger. And lest you forget, I have already commanded you to remind yourselves and your children of the taste of affliction and bitterness every year on Pesach. Those who forget what it feels like to be a stranger, eventually come to oppress strangers,
What happened to Csanad was exactly that: role reversal. He was a hater who discovered that he belonged among the hated. What cured him of antisemitism was his role-reversing discovery that he was a Jew. That, for him, was a life-changing discovery. The Torah tells us that the experience of our ancestors in Egypt was meant to be life-changing as well. Having lived and suffered as strangers, we became the people commanded to care for strangers.
The best way of curing antisemitism is to get people to experience what it feels like to be a Jew. “
And the best way to cure those who oppose the love of God is for them to experience the love of God firsthand. And He does so most frequently through you and me.
Maybe it is clearer now why I am sharing with you this story? As a group of believers, it is easy to love others from a distance. And when we do so, other people will more easily duck and dive and some will despise or even hate and oppose us for presenting a dysfunctional Christ that has no bearing with the Biblical Christ in Scripture. Good theology alone, however vital, cannot be a substitute for a living relationship with a living God! We need both but sadly many believers settle for one without the other.
Before we can present Christ to others with any manner of persuasion we need to experience first-hand a nurturing Christ-loving culture and environment – what Scripture defines as ‘normative Christianity’ as opposed to some legalistic counterfeit – that is when we begin to discover our true identity in Him. These are itemised in Gal.5:22-23“… But the fruit of the Spirit [the result of His presence within us] is love [unselfish concern for others], joy, [inner] peace, patience [not the ability to wait, but how we act while waiting], kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law.” How well do we exhibit these things in our lives individually and corporately?
I believe that it’s impossible to manifest the fruit of Gal.5 in the world until we can demonstrate it as a reality between ourselves. And it is this that we are committed to and must jealously guard.
This is the primary focus which I exhort each one today to reflect upon. Now is the time we need to stand up and be counted as part of the end-time Gideon’s army. But in this context and following on from this we must earnestly seek our place in His Body. Externally, maybe God is calling you to reach out and visit the needy and lonely in the community, or those who are sick in hospital. Maybe, it will include small things such as helping someone who would like to visit our Fellowship but has no lift – or to distribute our Mekudeshet flyers within the locality? God has got a unique plan for each one of us and nothing is insignificant in His sight but the question is whether we are willing to respond in faith and obedience to the practical things in life He is challenging us with. Do not disdain the day of small beginnings because God views things differently from the world. Maybe, Bringing things loser to home, maybe God desires for you to commit to taking up the mantle of intercessory prayer and bringing together a small group who faithfully pray the heart of God. For example, we need prayer support for so many believers who are coming under attack viciously in these days: and how many people are earnestly praying for the leadership of Mekudeshet? What things is God challenging you with today? God forbid that we would ever fall into Laodicean complacency of Rev.3 a congregation who were neither hot nor cold, because apathy is the promoter of spiritual death.
So, I know I am racing through these things but let’s stand, because I want to invite us as Mekudeshet together to repeat a prayer that was found among the papers of a young African pastor who was martyred some 100+ years ago. It is a prayer of commitment to God and to each other and I firmly believe that when we commit to it wholeheartedly, then we will begin to see transformation and renewal on an unprecedented scale.
“I’m a part of the fellowship of the unashamed. The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made. I’m a disciple of His and I won’t look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still. My past is redeemed. My present makes sense. My future is secure. I’m done and finished with low living, sight walking, small planning, smooth knees, colourless dreams, tamed visions, mundane talking, cheap living, and dwarfed goals. I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits, or popularity. I don’t have to be right, or first, or tops, or recognised, or praised, or rewarded. I live by faith, lean on His presence, walk by patience, lift by prayer, and labor by Holy Spirit power. My face is set. My gait is fast. My goal is heaven. My road may be narrow, my way rough, my companions few, but my guide is reliable and my mission is clear. I will not be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, deluded or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice or hesitate in the presence of the adversary. I will not negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity. I won’t give up, shut up, or let up until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up, paid up, and preached up for the cause of Christ. I am a disciple of Jesus. I must give until I drop, preach until all know, and work until He comes. And when He does come for His own, He’ll have no problems recognising me. My colours will be clear!”
Father, we renew our commitment to You today and repent of anything that has kept us from loving and serving You, from all offences and unforgiveness and from failing to love others as You have commanded us to do. We consecrate ourselves afresh to You in Yeshua’s name!
Now I want us to spend some time putting these things into practice by spending some time on our knees before the Lord to seek His face in the manner of Ps.139: “Search me O God and know my heart, try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way within and lead me in Your everlasting ways.”
We need to confess our sins before Him, to ask forgiveness from others we have sinned against or offended: to renew our walk with Him and after this we are going to break bread to seal our consecration before our God who demonstrated His love for us through His sacrifice on the Cross and commanded us like wise to love one another and lay down our lives for one another as He did for us as living sacrifices.
Parasha Yitro – Ex.18:1 – 20:23; Isai. 6:1-7:6; 9:5-6); Matt. 5:8-20
There are many significant things to raise our attention from last week’s Torah portion, Parashat Yitro which you would have received from the Mekudeshet notes I sent to you.
God is attentive to meet our deepest needs, but very often it is conditional to how well we listen and respond to Him! This was a key issue facing Moses.
Jethro was a Midianite priest who blessed Moses by offering him safe refuge for 40 years after he fled the Egyptians, and also blessed him with a wife, Zipporah his very own daughter, displaying honour and favour according to the culture of the times. This is particularly noteworthy since the Midianites have been antagonistic against the Jewish people throughout their history. And now we see how God’s blessing upon Jethro was reciprocated who discovered a place of belonging and a position of honour among God’s chosen people. His past as a pagan priest was behind him, the promise of a blessed future lay before him! In contrast, the Egyptians who cursed Israel were utterly destroyed.
Alongside this, shortly afterwards when Moses was commissioned by God to receive the stone tablets of the Law, he appointed his brother Aaron to deputise for him during his 40-day absence without seeking the counsel of God beforehand with disastrous results because Aaron did not have the ability and influence to guide the people in righteous living. He was called as a priest not as a leader and was easily lured by the people to fashion a golden calf, alongside all the trimmings of pagan worship in its lowest form: “The people offered sacrifices and then engaged in pagan rituals, including orgies (Ex.32:25) to worship this new god.”
To place the calamitous event into perspective, only three days before, God had spoken from the mountain peak to the nation as a whole. Everyone heard God’s voice and saw the mountain shake with smoke and the fire – the entire nation, men, women and children, their handmaids and servants, the Gentile nations that accompanied them out of Egypt – all heard God audibly in the flames of fire, each according to his own language.
God made a promise to Moses: “Now if you will pay careful attention to what I say and keep my covenant, (listen well – shema) then you will be my own treasure from among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you will be a kingdom of cohanim for me, a nation set apart.” (19:5-6)
And He told Moses: “This is what you must say to the descendants of Jacob. Tell the Israelites, 4 ‘You have seen for yourselves what I did to Egypt and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to my mountain. 5 If you carefully obey me and are faithful to the terms of my promise, then out of all the nations you will be my own special possession, even though the whole world is mine. 6 You will be my kingdom of priests and my holy nation.” (19:3-6)
God’s love was demonstrated towards Israel as bearing them on ‘eagle’s wings’. An eagle doesn’t carry her young in her claws like other birds but the eaglets attach themselves to the back of the mother eagle so are protected as they are carried. Any arrow from a hunter must pass through the mother eagle before it could touch the young eagle on her back.
God’s intention for Israel was that they would experience the riches of His glory but they could only do so if they chose to walk in holiness and obedience. But, this was not to be. Sadly, following the episode of the golden calf, the entire nation who had been commissioned as priests were whittled down to just one tribe (the Levites). And they themselves in the course of time fell short of their calling by constructing idols out of the ‘traditions of men.’ But in the fullness of time God who is always fully in control sent Yeshua who became our “Great High Priest and incredibly the priesthood once more replaced through Yeshua by the “whosoever” – Jew and Gentile 1Pet.2:9: “You are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvellous light.”
(Rev.1:6): “(He has) formed us into a kingdom (a royal race), priests to His God and Father.”
The Israelites initial response to God’s condition for blessings had been so positive and enthusiastic! “Everything Adonai has said, we will do!” (19:7) So what went wrong? The Hebrew word “Shema” means “hear and do” is active not passive and it is in this context that we come to this weeks parasha, “Mishpatim (Laws).“These are the commandments (Mishpatim) that you are to set before them.” (Ex.21:1)
Israel received from God the list of laws to govern their lives so they could build a close and holy relationship with Him and live harmoniously together. They they understood that God’s laws give Life and protect from the evil that seeks to destroy us. But to understand with our minds is not sufficient until we learn to put them into practice.
God has provided us with His ‘laser beam’ ‘which is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path’ through Yeshua. All of us hate the darkness yet frequently beg the Lord not to shine His searchlight too brightly because it exposes the intents of our hearts and the sin that so easily besets us! But unless we allow God’s searchlight to penetrate our deepest being, we will never walk in the freedom wherein He sets the captives free.
Following His resurrection Yeshua performed a health check on Peter and three times asked him: “Do you love Me?” because to love God (Deut 6:5) is the fulfilment of the Law. Do you want to know how much you love Him? Yeshua told His disciples “If you love Me you will obey My commandments.” But to obey the commandments without any desire to love God, (I.e., outside of relationship) is meaningless.
God has given us His Torah and is searching for a broken people who are unreservedly committed to serving Him. In Scripture they are referred to as servants – those with a servant-heart (Abram – Gen. 26:24; Num. 12:7; Joshua – Josh. 24:29; David – 2 Sam. 7:5; and Isaiah – Isai. 20:3. Even Yeshua Himself is referred to as God’s Servant in Isai 53:11. In all cases the term servant carries the idea of one who is yoked to the Master, someone absolutely devoted. Paul, Timothy, James, Peter, and Jude all describe themselves as “servants of Yeshua” (Rom 1:1; Phil 1:1; James 1:1; 2 Pet 1:1; Jude 1:1) in their opening letters.
So when Yeshua spoke to His disciples about friendship in John 14 “I no longer call you servants, but friends,” He said something that was staggering. To be a friend of Yeshua means that He trusts us; He confides in us because friends share secrets. Friendship is greater than servanthood because a servant serves but a friend lays down his life.
We become a friend of God when we simply choose to place Him first in our lives. It means embracing the ‘fellowship of His sufferings’ and the ‘fellowship of the unashamed’ trusting Him with all our heart even in the midst of perplexity when everything is crashing around us.
Yeshua is available as our friend for those who hunger and thirst for a deeper relationship with Him – to be known in eternity as one who counted it worth everything to be known as His friend. Paul wrote:
“7 Yet all of the accomplishments that I once took credit for, I’ve now forsaken them and I regard it all as nothing compared to the delight of experiencing Yeshua as my Lord! 8 To truly know him meant letting go of everything from my past and throwing all my boasting on the garbage heap. It’s all like a pile of manure to me now, so that I may be enriched in the reality of knowing Yeshua and embrace him as Lord in all of his greatness.” (Phil. 3)
Are we willing to come out of our comfort zones to walk as a friend of Yeshua? Even the smallest thing such as to provide lifts for those who need them on a Saturday? Or to distribute leaflets to others or to commit to come earlier than usual to attend our pre-service meetings?
Sometimes, we are so concerned about the Rapture that we forget about the here-and now and fail to understand that He will tarry only until the full number of people get saved. The harvest is plentiful but the labourers are few…
