Sunday, October 29, 2006

Content To Be Exactly Who I Am

In my studies into the Hebraic roots of our faith in Yeshua the Messiah I have come across many different websites, forums and blogs, read lots of different articles, and have accessed a great deal of information. Having grown up in the Christian church, I was well aware of the divisions within the church, whether denominational or doctrinal, and even within individual congregations between the different members. Suffice it to say that I was well aware of the "feet of clay" within Christianity. I'm not sure why I expected something better from those in the Messianic ranks and yet I did. Maybe I thought that people who had a grasp on the whole of God's Word, who had embraced Torah observance along with following Yeshua, would somehow set aside their differences and embrace one another in the love that we are commanded to walk in with one another. I think we will always have differences of opinion about the interpretations of scripture and the practical applications of those same scriptures. Yet even with those differences, there can be unity and there ought to be mutual love & respect.

As I have read and studied from these different internet sources, I have come to see a couple of different viewpoints. There are those who believe that if you are going to be a follower of Yeshua, that you need to walk in "Jewish" space, because Yeshua was born a Jew. These folks dive headlong into keeping Torah, along with much of the Jewish traditions and/or rabbinical interpretations. They seem to think that praying Hebrew prayers, singing Hebrew songs, dancing Hebrew dances, and embracing an orthodox lifestyle has more validity than living an unorthodox lifestyle. I am not saying that doing thus is wrong, no, not at all. I am only concerned when those who choose to walk in this manner make it seem as though every other believer in Yeshua should do so as well or they aren't truly a believer in Yeshua. And, unfortunately, I have also seen that those who embrace this lifestyle walk a slippery slope of coming to love their orthodoxy more than they love Yeshua; indeed, many embrace Judaism to the exclusion of the Messiah Yeshua. How tragic! I have also been told that if I was unwilling to follow Yeshua in this "Jewish" space, I should consider that I had no reason to keep Torah and should confine myself to the Christian church. Ouch!

Of course, on the other hand, you have the died-in-the-wool Christians who believe that doing anything that even smacks in the least of "Jewishness" means that you are denying the blood of Jesus, by whom we are saved, and are going back "under the law." Sorry, but I don't agree with that, either!

If you are descended by birth from the twelve tribes of Israel, then I think you should embrace your identity as a Jew, even if and especially if you are a believer in Yeshua HaMeshiach. This is your heritage as a descendant of the Twelve Tribes. You were born into this; embrace it. Then there are others, not knowingly or otherwise of Jewish descent, who choose, as did Ruth the Moabitess, to become one with Israel. That's okay, too. But there are also those who are Gentiles by birth and nationality, who find new life in Yeshua the Messiah, who are adopted into Israel, who are the seed of Abraham by faith (as all believers in Yeshua are), while maintaining their Gentile identity. You can find mention of many such in the book of Acts and in the Epistles.

Over the past couple of years, as we have learned more about the Hebraic roots of our faith and have chosen to walk in obedience to as much of the written Word of God as we understand how to do and are able to do, we have found ourselves not "fitting" into the Christian community any more. So few understand what we see wrong with Christmas, Easter, Halloween, etc. So few understand why we would choose to keep the Biblical Sabbath, the other appointed times on God's holy days calendar, why we would give up eating pork and shrimp, why we would wear the tzitzit, why we would study and seek to apply the "Old Testament" scriptures in our walk as "New Testament" believers in Yeshua the Messiah.

On the other hand, as we have fellowshipped with other "Messianic" believers over the past couple of years, we haven't exactly "fit" into that camp either. We do not believe that we need to get a shofar to blow or that we have to learn to read & speak Hebrew for the liturgical prayers or for worshipping the LORD in song. We don't believe that my husband has to put a tallit (prayer shawl) over his head when he prays or that I have to wear a headcovering. We do not believe that we have to incorporate all the rabbinic teachings into our lifestyle, whether that be in our bedroom or in our kitchen or anywhere else in our lives. What is clearly stated in scripture, that we do our best to apply however. We do firmly hold that there is one law for the Jew and for the Gentile. I guess, though, at this point, we don't think that the Jewish interpretation of that law is the only way to live it. We do not want to be Jews. We do not want to convert to Judaism. We are thankful to Yeshua for grafting us into the olive tree, but we are still wild olive branches. We are Gentiles who have been adopted into Israel, so we are Israelites by adoption, but we are still Gentiles by our birth.

Let me use an example from daily life. We know families who have adopted children from foreign countries. These children have come from China, Romania, Haiti, and other foreign lands. They are Chinese or Haitian by birth. Then they are adopted by American families and become American by adoption. That does not do away with their birth identity, however. No matter how long they live here in America, they will always be Chinese or Haitian. They will always carry some part of their cultural identity with them, more if they were older children or teens when they were adopted. Yet as Americans, they begin to assimilate the culture and traditions of the families into which they were adopted. The adoptive family would think it strange if that child refused to become a member of the family, to adapt to their lifestyle and join in their celebrations. On the other hand, the adoptive family would be abusive if they refused to let the adoptive child become one with their lifestyle and take part in their celebrations.

I am a Gentile believer in the Messiah Yeshua. I am content to be exactly that. I do not need to "put on" Jewishness in order to see myself as more valuable to YHWH. I think He is just as pleased with my extemporaneous prayers in English as He is with the liturgical prayers I am learning when we join in fellowship with other believers. I think He is just as pleased with the songs of praise we sing in English as He is with those sung in Hebrew. I think He enjoys many styles of music and of dance. I think He delights in modest and seemly apparel, but that there is no one "right" kind of apparel that fits this definition. And I think there is a day soon coming when all believers, of every people & tongue, tribe and nation, will worship Him together in spirit and in truth, expressing that worship in their own language (the languages that God Himself gave to all the nations when He confused our speech at Babel) as they sing and dance before the LORD. And maybe the Polish folks will learn to do a Davidic dance, while the Zulus will learn to do a polka and the Hassidic Jewish fellas will learn to do a Native American circle dance; get the picture? All of us as one, as "echad", worshipping Him from our hearts, in spirit and in truth, singing with joy in our hearts to the LORD and all of our different languages blending into one wonderful anthem of worship to the Most High! And all of our differences melting into nothingness as we join our hearts in worship to the Lamb who sits upon the throne--one flock with One Shepherd, One God and Father of us all. Amen!

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