6 November 2005
Hear oh Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is one. Love him with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength. Deuteronomy (6:4-5)
Most if not all of what Jesus does and says is backed up in the Tanakh. This includes love for neighbour and love for enemies, but this week I would like to look at some of the things the Lord calls upon for his saints of the Old Testament.
First of all, the relationship with God is based on love. John tells us God is love. In Deuteronomy we are told that that love must be total. Jesus expands on the description of that love. We are to love God more than spouse, children, home or even life itself. Jesus even says we must hate those things. Only when we truly love God first will these other things find their rightful place. Jesus tells us to seek first the Kingdom, and the rest will fall into place.
Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people; and walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you. (Jeremiah 7:28)
This verse from Jeremiah, which is paraphrasing the Torah is the Old Testament basis for Jesus’s words. But even more they emphasise an importance of the Old Testament or the Tanakh for Christians. St. Paul tells us, “All scripture is God-breathed and is valuable for teaching the truth, convicting of sin, correcting faults and training in right living, thus anyone who belongs to God may be fully equipped for every good work.” Note that when Paul wrote this, the scripture he was referring to was the Old Testament or Tanakh. In other words, many of the precepts found in the Tanakh are still for us Christians. This begins with the moral law, but continues with many other aspects of Christian living. The Tanakh teaches not only by commands, but by example, both positive and negative. Do you favour one child over another? Look at Abraham. Do you not like to punish your children when you do wrong? Look at King David. There are many things which can be learned in the Tanakh, which will allow “all to be well with you.”
Micah 6:8, “This is what God wants of you, to do justice, to love with all your heart and walk humbly with your God,” sums many of the demands of the Tanakh. Adonai truly does desire justice. Much of the Tanakh is dedicated to equal treatment of rich and poor, of justice for the stranger in the land, and of penalty only being imposed on the word of two or three witnesses. Protecting the widow, the orphan and the helpless are important aspects of God’s justice. If we truly love with all our hearts, then it is easy for us to be just. If we realise truly who we are, and who God is, and what he did for us, then it is truly easy to walk humbly with him.
The best news of course, is when we invite Jesus into our hearts, he sends us his Holy Spirit to give us the power to do all these things.
Shalom and blessings in the Name of Yeshua
+Mar Michael Abportus
mjthan@quik.com
http://www.freewebs.com/childrenofabraham/
http://www.christiansynod.org/
1-281-303-3671
Most if not all of what Jesus does and says is backed up in the Tanakh. This includes love for neighbour and love for enemies, but this week I would like to look at some of the things the Lord calls upon for his saints of the Old Testament.
First of all, the relationship with God is based on love. John tells us God is love. In Deuteronomy we are told that that love must be total. Jesus expands on the description of that love. We are to love God more than spouse, children, home or even life itself. Jesus even says we must hate those things. Only when we truly love God first will these other things find their rightful place. Jesus tells us to seek first the Kingdom, and the rest will fall into place.
Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people; and walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you. (Jeremiah 7:28)
This verse from Jeremiah, which is paraphrasing the Torah is the Old Testament basis for Jesus’s words. But even more they emphasise an importance of the Old Testament or the Tanakh for Christians. St. Paul tells us, “All scripture is God-breathed and is valuable for teaching the truth, convicting of sin, correcting faults and training in right living, thus anyone who belongs to God may be fully equipped for every good work.” Note that when Paul wrote this, the scripture he was referring to was the Old Testament or Tanakh. In other words, many of the precepts found in the Tanakh are still for us Christians. This begins with the moral law, but continues with many other aspects of Christian living. The Tanakh teaches not only by commands, but by example, both positive and negative. Do you favour one child over another? Look at Abraham. Do you not like to punish your children when you do wrong? Look at King David. There are many things which can be learned in the Tanakh, which will allow “all to be well with you.”
Micah 6:8, “This is what God wants of you, to do justice, to love with all your heart and walk humbly with your God,” sums many of the demands of the Tanakh. Adonai truly does desire justice. Much of the Tanakh is dedicated to equal treatment of rich and poor, of justice for the stranger in the land, and of penalty only being imposed on the word of two or three witnesses. Protecting the widow, the orphan and the helpless are important aspects of God’s justice. If we truly love with all our hearts, then it is easy for us to be just. If we realise truly who we are, and who God is, and what he did for us, then it is truly easy to walk humbly with him.
The best news of course, is when we invite Jesus into our hearts, he sends us his Holy Spirit to give us the power to do all these things.
Shalom and blessings in the Name of Yeshua
+Mar Michael Abportus
mjthan@quik.com
http://www.freewebs.com/childrenofabraham/
http://www.christiansynod.org/
1-281-303-3671
posted by The Synod of Saint Timothy at 22:38
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