Note: I've shamelessly 'borrowed' some of these concepts. You can find them yourself if you research Judaism. Also, Rob Bell covers them quite well in his book, "Velvet Elvis" and his Nooma DVD entitled "Dust."
Studying the Torah (first five books of the Old Testament, or the books of Moses) is an integral part of Jewish life. In Jesus' day, Jewish boys would begin Torah study around the age of six (bet sefer), and would memorize it entirely! Around age ten, while the majority of the boys would begin learning their fathers' trade, the best of these Torah students went on to study other Jewish writings and memorize the rest of the Old Testament (bet talmud)! That's right, even Psalms and Proberbs! Finally, in their early teens, the best of the best of these would apply to a rabbi's disciple (bet midrash). They didn't just want to know what the rabbi knew, they wanted to DO what the rabbi DID. If a rabbi thought the student could 'do what he did' (known as a 'yoke'), he would 'call' the student to be his disciple by saying, "Come and follow me." The student would then leave family, friends and his whole life to follow the Rabbi and take his 'yoke.' Each Rabbi's 'yoke' was shaped and influenced by the interpretations of the Scriptures that the Rabbi had, so some 'yokes' were more strict or 'heavy' than others. Following the Rabbi wherever he went inspired the Jewish blessing, "May you be covered in the dust of your Rabbi."
Jesus was a radical rabbi...
When other rabbi's looked for the cream of the crop, Jesus called fishermen and tax collectors! That's right, He called those who didn't even make it past learning the Torah! He also said that His yoke was easy, and His burden was light!
These radical actions and words of Jesus highlight His turning away from burdensome, strict, ordered processes of learning and teaching. Jesus' emphasis was on relationships. He must have believed that if His disciples loved Him, then they would be like Him!
Perhaps this sheds new light on the Great Commandment to love the Lord your God, and the Great Commission of Jesus to go and make disciples of all nations. He wants us to share a way of life with eachother and the world that He said was easy and light. He wants that way of life to flow from a relationship with Him.
Are you involved in a discipleship relationship?
May you see the importance of your relationship with Christ above all others.
May you realize the calling of Christ to disciple-making.
May you understand that this means disciple-being as well.
May you be covered in the dust of your Rabbi.
26 September 2005
yokes, disciples and dust
20 September 2005
god's toolbox
"Behold, I am sending you out like sheep in the midst of wolves; so be as cunning as serpents and as innocent as doves . . . When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say. You will be given, at that moment, what you are to say. For it will not be you, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you." (Matthew 10:16,19)
God has a big toolbox. Contrary to popular Christian tradition, his tools are people. The verse above says that He is sending 'you.' We commonly refer to organisations, programmes or church meetings as tools. Sure, God can and does use these, but He still chooses to create these through people. The people are His tools. We are His hands and feet.
Even though most every Christian realises this, we still often tend to rely on human inventions rather than on God and His Spirit working through us. Allow the following illustration:
Concerning evangelism, we have a mindset that says we are to lure our non-christian acquainences to various church services or 'gospel meetings' so that they can encounter the gospel, be confronted with the message of Jesus and hopefully place their faith and trust in Him.
This IS a valid method of evangelism, but it is ONLY ONE method! Thankfully, God has a LOT more ways to reach people than just gospel 'meetings.' And to be completely honest, there is somewhat of a large contrast between this method of evangelism and Jesus' method, which is not gospel meetings, but gospel lifestyles.
Jesus tells US to GO. He wants US to share the Gospel with the world and teach them about Christ. We cannot and MUST not rely on 'the preacher' to tell our non-Christians about Jesus. 1 Peter 3:15 says,
"But in your hearts, set apart Christ as Lord, and always be ready to give a defense for the hope that is within you whenever someone asks, with gentleness and respect."
Like it or not, if you are not prepared to share the Gospel with your friends, you are in disobedience to Christ.
And by the way, we MUST share the Gospel with much more than only WORDS. As a popular author has said, we must share the tesimony of our LIFE and LOVE, and earn the right to share the testimony of our LIPS.
Will we make ourselves ready to be used by God, or will we continue to stay buried in the bottom of the toolbox?
Dale
12 September 2005
asking the wrong questions
"Love someone. Any way you choose to love them is fine, but you need to do it at the right time, with the right flowers and at the right restaurant."
Stop and think. What is wrong with this command? Read it again carefully if you need to.
It tells me when to love, with what to love and even where to love, but what other details might you need? How about who and how? Do the what, where and when really matter if you have the who and how figured out? I don't think they matter one bit.
Isn't it refreshing that God's New Covenant commandments to us don't even bother with the what, where and when? Let's look at the Two Commandments of Jesus Christ.
1. Love the LORD your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.
2. Love your neighbor as yourself.
Do you see anything in these that have to do with what it looks like to do this, or where or when to do this? Of course not. It appears that God isn't as concerned with what, where or when we love Him, but instead is concerned that we indeed are loving Him and how we love Him.
Another example about this from Jesus is His discussion with the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well in Samaria about the differences between Jews and Samaritans. She reminded Jesus that Jews believed that the Temple in Jerusalem was the TRUE place for worship, but that the Samaritans were actually the right ones, because the real TRUE place for worship was the mountain in Samaria. The reply of Jesus is paramount. He told her that the time was coming and had already come when she would not worship God on the Samaritan mountain or in Jerusalem. (What!?!) He then tells her that True worship is not where, but in Spirit and in Truth (how).
Who do we love? The LORD first, and then our neighbor.
How do we love them? With everything that we have. Every affection, moment, possession, thought, feeling and effort.
Where and when do we do this? What do we do with with? It just does NOT matter.
Don't let anyone make you feel guilty for not attending the latest, hippest Christian conference.
Don't let anyone pressure you attend an event.
Don't listen to those that tell you you MUST read this book or do this bible study.
Don't believe the idea that certain rituals of prayer, bible-study or worship are any better than others.
Don't let anyone control you but God.
5 September 2005
but it looks like love
What does it look like to love God and my neighbor?
I know, I know. You might be getting a bit numb to the topic of love. Maybe you have love figured out. If so, stop reading right now. This article won't apply to you. If you're like the rest of us, you can probably admit you have a thing or two to learn about True love.
Wouldn't it be nice if there were clear, precise, practical examples of what True love is? Then we could stop guessing and just do it, right? Some of us long to be told just what to DO in order to demonstrate True love. Would that help? I'm not convinced that it would.
You see, what looks like love isn't always the real deal. Truth is, we ALL know what love LOOKS like, even if we don't know what love IS. Just think of all the donations to charities all over the world that would never be made unless someone was looking. There just has to be something in it for us. It's not flattering, but it's the truth. The world runs on selfishness. And what's really scary is when selfishness is disquised as humility or generosity.
So I won't waste any time telling you to talk to your neighbor even if they aren't like you; I won't try to tell you where the line is between affection and disrespect for your boy/girlfriend's body; and as much as you might like me to, I won't try to tell you how to learn to love people you don't like or that don't like you. That is behavior modification, and it doesn't work. Sure, it might make things look a little bit better, but at the end of the day, no change results.
What I WILL do, is point you once again to the best example of love that we have. The one act of Grace that echoes through all eternity, silencing all other acts of love. The sacrifice that out-does all of our petty performances of trying to love others. The death of Christ.
"In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He l oved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another." - 1 John 4:10-11
May God's love be perfected in us... period.
-Dale
