The Church in the World

The Church as a visible community in this world must be the arm of mercy in the face of injustice, love in the face of hate, humility in the face of pride.

We in Christ have liberty, a liberty obtained not by revolution, rebellion, or reformation, but through the cross. The only way to freedom is the cross.

 The world has been confronted by the cross of Jesus Christ - it has already been frontally assaulted. Liberation has been won for slave or free. For us to fight in a physical rebellion or revolution undermines the victory we have in Christ. He has overcome the world! He said that His kingdom is not of this world. If His kingdom were of this world, His servants would fight. If His kingdom were of this world, the cross would have never been necessary. He was not a revolutionary fighting against the injustice, oppression, suppression, or taxation of Rome. 

When we truly understand liberty, then we understand the Cross. Our hope, our LIFE, our desire, our existence, is not of this world nor in this world but solely in Christ - in Him are all things. 

It is not REFORM this world needs. This world is ripe for destruction. To stay in this world for Christians is to be part of it's rough and tumble, yet abide fully in the Body of Christ, Christ manifested in the visible community of the church. Neither revolution nor false submission is the answer. We must bear testimony to the finished defeat of this world through the life of discipleship. Our duty is submit under present authorities, not to harbor resentment against them. 

It does NOT matter what others do, but what WE do. Do what is good without fear of man. We do not act righteously to receive the praises of men, but only to please God. We must refrain from all evil, all rebellion, all malice, etc. We are to live quietly, gently, meekly, peaceably with all men. We are like lambs led to the slaughter. We are free and have nothing to fear. 

Though we preach with meekness and love, the gospel, the Word of God, has the nature to provoke fury in the enemies of the cross. The GOSPEL, the living Word, is what this world NEEDs. We are willing to suffer whatever consequences if we know that we are doing the Will of God and our hearts are not only pleasing to Him, but our actions are exactly as demonstrated and dictated by Him. As Christ is, so we must be in this world. 

(Ideas taken from Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Cost of Discipleship, the chapter The Visible Community)

Discipleship - the Answer

The foulest, most loathsome gospel, is that which denies the living-ness of the Messiah. It denies and mutilates the grace of God. It is a perversion and an Antichristian doctrine that is not based on the Word of God but the carnal desires of men. 

Cheap grace – the denial of the living work of God, that salvation and faith cannot be lived out, that trust in God merely a lip-service. 

Perhaps for so long a church-goer has been embittered by the lack of God’s transformative power in the preaching, so much so that the preaching of righteousness becomes a heavy burden and devoid of liberty, grace, and truth. When we lose the grace of God in our preaching, and yet preach righteousness, it is the letter and the letter kills. People are turned away from the truth because of legalism, the clinging to outwards forms to disguise inner emptiness. We fail to drink from the fountain of living waters and in consequence can only preach legalism: the law of sin and death. 

We can cling to church buildings, styles of worship, modes of preaching, gospel presentations, and such, not evil, but empty - devoid of grace, devoid of truth, devoid of God, just a religion and a form.

Man’s solution to the preaching of works without the faith to produce it is to cut off works. There is no power, so why should people live righteous lives? Therefore, we should just live like the world. After all, anything more than complacency and any attempt to live unlike the world is only fruitless striving. Somewhere, deep inside, we are made righteous we God. We don’t need to do anything. To do anything is wrong- striving you see, fruitless pursuit of righteousness which we can never attain to and should not attain to. That is cheap grace and lawlessness – the law of sin and death. 

Do you know what costly, true, grace? It is the grace of God from the Messiah and in the Messiah poured out to the sinner. It fills him with forgiveness and repentance. God is revealed to the sinner, and God will never let him go. God has given the sinner undeserved riches – and filled him with the power of the Holy Spirit, the power to change. God washes him clean, and brings him into eternal life. The sinner is now righteous, and the Spirit of God in him transforms him into the image of God. This grace that was bestowed upon him now prevails upon him to leave all that he has, take up His cross, and follow the Messiah. Grace is God loves us, and God giving us the love in which we are consumed by Him and enabled to love the lost. 

Sometimes we just need to get down on our knees before God and cry out Him, asking Him to restore to us the true gospel, not in word only but in power. We badly need to the true, powerful, costly, precious grace of God. We need to be empowered to preach the true gospel of the Messiah, that says, “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand” and “Take up your cross and follow me”. 

That’s right. The gospel we preach is the cross. If there is no cross, there is no forgiveness, no redemption, no atonement, no resurrection. There must be the suffering before there is the glory. Those who come to the Messiah’s cross will, with Him and through Him, experience the power of His resurrection. 

Discipleship needs to be restored – not the commandments of men but yoke of the Messiah. Yeshua calls to all those who are wearied and burdened, come and take His yoke, for it is easy and light. He calls all who thirst to drink of the living waters of life, and He will make living waters to flow out from you. He calls those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. He calls the blind, the death, the oppressed, the overburdened. He calls them to take up their cross and follow Him. In Him is life everlasting. In Him is peace. In Him are joy, and eternal rewards. 

What is the normal Christian life? To live the life of Christ. To be His disciple, following Him, and longing to be like Him, fixing our eyes on Him, hearing His voice, obeying Him in perfect trust.

What is legalism then? It is non-existent. You will follow Him because you trust him. You will obey Him because you love Him. He is your everything. Your life is bound in Him.

Keeping the Law

God desires obedience and not sacrifice. That does not mean that obedience does not require sacrifice. It means that one does not approach obedience through sacrifice, but sacrifice through a heart of obedience. That is the same for all the commandments, not just sacrifice. God wants sacrifice borne out of obedience, not sacrifice as opposed to obedience. 

Do you know what keeping the law is? Do you know what living a godly life is? Keeping the law is a living a life of perfect and complete obedience to the explicit and eternal will of YHWH for you.

God’s Law is Himself. He is the Law, the Instruction, the Banner of Righteousness. He is perfect, righteous, unchanging. His Law can never change any more than He can change, and why should He change, He being perfect? He is perfect and true. 

Two times in history God translated and revealed this law in the flesh, physically. God translated this Law from Himself firstly onto the tablet of stone. That was the Law of Moses. God brought down His law, from the heavenly places, from the Spiritual realm, into the realm of the physical. The law, and God, His righteousness, revealed to the children of Israel in that law, was manifested. 

The law was given on tablets of stone. This was the manifestation of God in His instructions to Abraham, Moses, and all the children of Israel. Again it was clear. It was not so much that the Commandments came between the Children of Israel and God but the principle and heart of the matter was perfect, unquestioning, obedience to the explicitly stated instructions of God. 

God told Abraham, “Go”. So Abraham believed God and went. God told Abraham, “Sacrifice”. So Abraham sacrificed. Abraham kept the law. He was obedient to the instructions of God. Did God tell Isaac to leave Abraham? No. Did God tell Moses to sacrifice his son? No. What matters is not the action but the heart of the matter is, doing whatever God tells you to do, when He tells you to do it, and exactly as He instructs. God told the children of Israel to go west. So they went west. He told them not to touch Sinai. They didn’t touch Sinai. 

The commands are eternal? Yes they are. God’s Will is eternal. His plans and purposes are eternal. It only takes common sense to tell you that though in one case God told Moses to hit the rock, and another to speak to it, that God is not going to tell you in one case to commit adultery and another case not to do it. 

There are so many instructions in the Law of Moses. Some are manifestations of the eternal righteousness of God, some are not. How do we know? The Law was perfect in itself. It was perfect in its time and place. 

That Law was inadequate. It left men as they were – in sin, in death, and in bondage. That Law could not change the hearts of men. It could only reveal what was right and wrong. There was no grace, no power, and no empowerment, to do what was right. It could not change the heart of man it could only expose its evil. The Work of the Law of Moses was not a final, authoritative, work that enabled God to proclaim, “It is done”. It was the shadow the greater that was to come. If the Law of Moses was the end of all things and the salvation of men, Yeshua need not have come.

In the Prophets we see that God is calling for the change of heart. The Prophets prophesied of that which is to come, that the hearts of men will be filled with the Spirit of God that will be a law to them, imbibed in them. The instructions of God need not come from a tablet of stone or through a man , but can be written in you, and spoken to y o u, and within you a power, a force, that causes you to walk in the right way, in perfection.   

However, the fullness and total righteousness of God has been revealed to us in its absolute perfection. Instead of God’s Word being transmitted down to stone, God Himself became flesh. This living, breathing, law could impart to man what the law of stone could not – salvation, righteousness, redemption, liberty, transformation, grace. The Law of Moses was a shadow of the greater Law that was to come. The Law was hadavar (the Word) written down. Messiah was to be the Word of God in flesh! Embodied! The scrolls pointed to the living work, that which was greater, that which was not just perfect and complete, it was glorious, far more glorious with the glory that would not fade away!

The Law of God I praise. It is the Perfect Law of Liberty, the Law of Faith, the Law of the Spirit of Life in the Messiah Yeshua, the Law that sets men free. Why does it set men free? Because it is perfect! It is done, completed,  and fulfilled, and only needs to be lived out. It is perfect because it has the power to change you and make you a new man. You will be birth again. You can drink from the fountain of living waters and never thirst again. You can enter, any time, into the presence of God because it is done. The High Priest was, and is, and is to come. The High Priest has and ever lives to make intercession for you. It is God, in You, filling you with the Spirit that He prophesied will fall upon all flesh. 

Can we keep the law? Absolutely. It is greater than keeping outwardly. It is living out that which already is perfect and complete within us. 

Now we have the guiding principles of the law. Firstly, love. Absolute lack of selfishness, self-justification, self-seeking, but an undivided and required affection for God with ones entire being, now made possible for us. And because we finally can enter into God’s love because of the love He has shown us, we are set free from every bondage we have to the narrow-mindedness of only thinking of one’s self. Now we are free, free in this Love of God to demonstrate this very love given to us to the entire world, to our enemies (previously not possible), as well as our brothers and our neighbors. The nature of the Torah is love. Affection for all except oneself. Let love be the guiding principle of your life. 

Secondly is faith, trust. Anything done out of distrust and doubt is gross sin. Whatever you do, say, or think, it must be found coming from a heart of total trust in the unfailing God. God showed Himself so strongly on behalf of the children of Israel, yet they did not trust Him enough to follow His command and enter Canaan. We must trust God completely. We must trust nothing else. He alone is trustworthy. He alone is the One who is True and Everlasting. Jude warns us that God, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterwards destroyed those who did not trust in Him.

We must also walk in accordance to the ways and thoughts of God, which are beyond us. We must not walk according to our bodily cravings, carnal intuitions, living out of our narrow perspective of life. We must walk in that which is abundant, eternal, that which is of the Spirit of God Himself. We are not supposed to walk according to the letter, that is, the physical expressions of the Law of God, but the Spirit, of God Himself, from which is the Law if birthed. If we guide our life according to physical expressions of the Law, we shall die, because we do not have that law written in our hearts that is why we must focus on the outward. We walk not according to what is seen but that which is not seen, that which is eternal and unchanging. 

That is why God didn’t give us a form or structure to worship Him and to serve Him. We are the form, our bodies are the Temple of the Holy Spirit, we are the living “church”, the body of those set-apart, because the Spirit of God dwells in us and we are sacred to God. 

The Law of Moses instructed them how to build a Temple. The Messiah (Law of God Made Flesh) is far more powerful, it transforms us into the Temple.

What does this mean? We have ultimate liberty and freedom in a way that was never known before.  Our faith is not about the outward, it’s about the inward transforming the outward. You are given the catalyst and do not need to work to make your ways right. You simply trust in God and He will make Your ways more righteous than you can ever make it. 

Look, grace is not about lawlessness, faith is not about professionalone. Our faith is not about talk, or simply about walk. It’s all about walking, living out the eternal life. 

Scripture References About the New Covenant Written In Song

With Him and In Him.

We think often about the glory of the Church in Christ. In eternity, and even now, we are literally His body, in Him and of Him.

It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him: If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us: If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.

(2 Timothy 2:11-13 KJV)

We are yoked with Him.

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

(Matthew 11:28-30 KJV)

Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

(1 John 4:17 KJV)

And as He is the Son of God, we are made partakers of the divine nature, and are made sons of God.

Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

(1 John 3:1-2 KJV)

Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

(2 Peter 1:4 KJV)

What a glory! It is an eternally supreme and wondrous glory, indescribable.

And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:

(John 17:22 KJV)

 And we the Body of Christ will be made One, just as One as He, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are One, and we are One in Him!

I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.

(John 17:23 KJV)

And we will be perfected in this Oneness and glory, so that the majestic glory of Christ will be the glory of His saints!

But what is the nature of this glory?

When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.

(2 Thessalonians 1:10 KJV)

We like to think of the glory, but what precedes and catalyzes this glory? Why does the Father exalt the Son in such glory?

Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

(Philippians 2:4-11 KJV)

Namely the cross. The cross of Yeshua the Messiah is the suffering before the glory, the labor before the birth, the pain before the joy, the shame before the exaltation, and the deaf before the life.

We are to take up our cross and follow Him. Yoked with Him, together with Him, we die. He puts to death everything of us – our inherent flesh, our inherent body, our inherent nature, our inherent goodness, and our inherent evil. Remember – we are born into the knowledge of good and evil, lest we think Christ puts to death our evil, we must not forget He put to death every good of ours, which when weighed by the eternal holiness of God is not goodness at all, nor right-doing, but filthy rags of wickedness. No matter how beautiful the fruit, it is bad, because the tree is bad, rotten, and deformed.

This glory comes only by the cross and nothing else. Next time I think of something great I want to do for God, I must put the cross to it – to death with myself! I must judge the effect and potential of such a doing with the power and glory of the cross, and my own works pale and shrink in estimation. What can we do that exceeds the wonder of the cross, what else can please God? Nothing save the cross of Yeshua the Messiah, by whom the world has been crucified to me and I to the world.

Being yoked to Him, therefore, imagine ourselves chained to Him at the time of His rejection, trial, scorn, and crucifixion. Imagine the jeers of the crowd, the lashes of the whip; whatever fell of Him falls on you, for you are yoked with Him.

He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

(Isaiah 53:3 KJV)

If they persecuted Him, will they do not persecute you? If they despised Him, they will despise you. If they reject Him, prepare to be rejected. Want to be His disciple? Want to be a Christian (follow of Christ)? Then you must take up your cross, following on behind Him, yoked alongside Him, and bound in Him.

Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets.

(Luke 6:26 KJV)

No, we will no be spoken well off; people will hide their faces from us, we will be despised by men, and not esteemed. We will be little and worthless both in the sight and men and ourselves. We will be utterly cast down, humiliated, and stripped of everything that makes us hold our head up high.

And that the Son of God, to whom belongs all glory and honor, should submit Himself to such a state, humble Himself under the agony of the cross, to take upon Himself all our suffering and shame! It then becomes only reasonable that we who love Him do the same, to follow in His steps, in Him. It becomes remarkably easier for us, because He is the one bearing the burden of the yoke. His grace poured out on us compels us and leads us on. Even the cross is not a work of ourselves, but the only thing required of us is to yield ourselves under the yoke. Then He will drive us, lead us, and His grace carries us, fills us with a hope beyond understanding, a faith beyond reason, and a love beyond bounds that will make us run towards the final eternal goal – the salvation of our souls, the Kingdom of Our Lord and of His Messiah.

But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

(Isaiah 53:5 KJV)

Are we willing to lay down our lives to Him in total surrender, knowing that wounds, bruises, chastisements, and stripes will be our lot, and yet in those suffering be filled with utmost joy? This then is the glory of the saints, for we suffer with Him.

Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.

(1 Peter 4:19 KJV)

Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.

(1 Peter 4:16 KJV)

See Him, carrying the cross, walking the Way of Suffering, mocked, spit upon, kicked, jeered. He looks back at His disciples. There you stand, you who have followed Him thus far. Yet now you can choose to be identified with Him, or hide your face and disappear in the crowd. Will you stand out? Would you walk forward, and stand with Him. Would You follow Him to the cross, pick up one Yourself, and then continue the rest of the way, led by the Son of God who laid down His life?  Yet is any man suffers are a follower of Messiah, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God on this behalf!

It is easy to declare “O Lord, I will follow you to the death!” But this statement will not validate itself – it is spoken in ignorance, firstly of the implications of the cross and its cost, and secondly of the state of your own heart and your ability.

The disciples learnt a tough lesson at the eve of the Cross, for they had neither counted the cost nor checked their wallet, but out of impulsiveness and immaturity made such a statement.  

The rich young ruler counted the cost of discipleship, for the Lord made him to understand on no uncertain terms its requirement, but did not find in himself the ability. Thus he was heartbroken. That last stronghold in his life, the last barrier between himself and the cross, was not his money or his love but his pride, or self-trust. Finding in himself no such power, he turned away, so near to eternal life that he could almost breathe its everlasting refreshment, but so far away, as to miss it altogether.

We only need fall at His feet in tears and great longing, “Lord, forgive me for I am not able. I have this not in myself. I cannot follow you. But I throw myself onto Thy mercy and avail my soul before Thee.” Then His strength will be made perfect in our weakness.

And thus we shall come to understand the grace of God, for thus it shall be poured out on us.

But and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled; (1 Peter 3:14 KJV)

For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing.

(1 Peter 3:17 KJV)

Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.

(Revelation 2:10 KJV)

By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;

(Hebrews 11:24-25 KJV)

Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.

(2 Timothy 3:12 KJV)

And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

(Romans 8:17-18 KJV)

Yea, as Christ suffered and died, so if we suffered with Him, we shall be glorified together!

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.

(Isaiah 53:7 KJV)

Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

(Isaiah 53:4 KJV)

But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

(Isaiah 53:5 KJV)

Are we today willing to bear and carry the sorrows of His people? Are we today willing, in this suffering, to be judged by them as being punished by God for our own sins? Are we today willing be wrongfully accused, yet remain silent. To be right, yet treated as wrong?

God, make us willing to be made willing. Make us willing to yield under Your yoke, to lift up our hands in surrender to the nails and thorns that beflicted our Master Yeshua on the cross?

Make us choose the narrow way, to drink the deeply bitter cup of sorrows, griefs, afflictions, and the cross. Let us not only say with our lips that we are willing to drink Your cup, but with our hearts, souls, and minds, bound to the cross. We will not evade the cross, nor run from You in the time of Your affliction, but make us O Master to be willing to be shamed with You.  

There is not in us a desire for the Messiah’s cross, but an inborn distaste and repulsion against it. The Adversary fights against us with might and main, roaring in all the savageness of evil, circling us as wolves, waiting to bite and devour our souls. Yet Messiah ever lives to make intercession for us. The Spirit travails for us with unutterable groaning. Creation moans in restless longing. The Father preserves us to the end.

 Make us O Lord, let us be a vessel of Your making, a sacrifice to Your pleasure! Keep us faithful O Lord, never let our heart grow cold. May we persevere with all the perseverance of hope, through the fires, darkness, turmoil, and wrangling of this present age to be presented a purified, blameless, glorious, comely Bride, the Church and Body of our Messiah.

Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

(1 John 3:2 KJV)

Becoming His Disciple, Becoming Who He Is

We are called to imitate Christ. We are being made in His likeness. He was the fullness of the Godhead bodily. I am sure it is our desire to be conformed to His image, to become who He is. For as Christ is, so we are in this world.

We must be the Messiah to the world. Everyone of us belongs to the Messiah. We are His called-out ones, His servants. We, the body of called-out ones, are His body. Therefore we are His. We are the body of the Messiah, we represent and present Him to the world and to His people.  We accomplish the work which He commands us to do, the will of the Father.

We are the sheep. Messiah is the shepherd.

The fullness of His nature, His character, and His perfection is attributed to us, meaning, imputed to us. And they are being imparted to us daily. Who is the Messiah? It is He upon whom the hopes of Israel rests.

The character of the Messiah is one which we must become. The Character of the Messiah, then, is the Holy Spirit-imputed impulse, motivation, and ability to do what is right (righteousness; the will of God) according to His highest standard of perfection, Christ (The Messiah).  

The Nature of God is what is natural to God; and that is what must be natural for us to do. The Nature of the Messiah must become our nature. We are not a naturally righteous, holy, and sanctified people; the Messiah is holy and righteous. Character is the person that we are. The Character of Christ is who we are being made to be.

Adam was created in the image of haShem (the LORD). Seth was born in Adam’s image. We are born in the image of our parents.  However the Messiah is the image of the invisible God. You saw no form nor image, haShem told Israel. But haShem appeared to Israel or was manifested to Israel in His Word, the Torah, in His tabernacle, and by mighty signs and wonders. Yeshua is the Torah, Yeshua is the tabernacle, and Yeshua was the mighty sign and wonder Himself.

The nature of the Messiah is as incomprehensible as the nature of God. Yet we know that God is the creator; that He cannot lie; that He is not an idol made with human hands; He is holy (set-apart, wholly other); that He cannot do anything wrong; that He is powerful, etc. We know that the Messiah was perfectly obedient, perfectly humble, perfectly perfect, etc.

Why do we learn character and character qualities? Because these are the qualities of the Messiah Yeshua.

1)      Love

Love is the foundation of all Christ-like character, yet it is the pinnacle of Christ-like character. It is simply this. He was love. His execution-stake (cross) was love. He was the manifestation of the love of God. And as He loved us, so we must love God; we must love our brethren; we must love each other; we must love our neighbor; and we must love our enemies. We must love as God loves because He loved us. God’s nature is one of love. Love is perfection. In perfect love, all our actions would correspond and therefore align to the standards of HaShem.

Only a circumcised heart can love God totally, withholding nothing.  In the Messiah we are circumcised with the circumcision not made with human hands; we are circumcised off the body of sins of the flesh (carnal nature), buried and immersed with the Messiah, where we also are raised with Him through faith in the working of HaShem.  

He was our great teacher. We have become His disciples. “teach us, master, how to pray.” As a student imitates his beloved Rav so we must imitate Yeshua the Messiah. As a student follows his teacher wherever he goes, so we must follow Yeshua. As a student aspires to be like his teacher, we must aspire to be like Him. As a student longs to be chosen by the Teacher, and be taught by Him, so must we. Only, we must walk the path with He walked, live the life He lived, drink the cup that He drank, and that walk must necessitate the execution stake which He bore. As He was executed for righteousness and for the salvation of the world, so must we be, daily. To the world we might as well be dead; to us the world might as well be dead. Is it so difficult?

How long more must be we longing for the leeks and garlic of Egypt? How long shall we temper with the deceitfulness of sin, lest HaShem destroy us in the wilderness. No, the words of this world cannot save us; the life of the living Torah, the milk and honey of the promised land, awaits those called out of Egypt who would indeed go through dry land and let the waters of the Red Sea shut Egypt behind us forever, never to look back, never again to chisel with our own hands the image of a man.

Only the believing obey, only the obedient believe...

Sha’ul emphasizes, “Only the believing can obey”. Yakob emphasizes, “Only the obedient can believe”.  Beyond these two men, centuries of strife, division, and heresy lie. Who is right?

If the Bible is absolute truth, it must have no contradiction (it cannot contradict itself). I believe the Bible is 

absolute truth. What then? Only that it brings out every aspect of truth, because truth is an aspect of God. 

God is truth. The Bible is His Word, and it emphasizes every aspect truth.

Baking soda and vinegar reacts.

Baking soda without vinegar cannot react.

Vinegar without baking soda cannot react.

In Statement 2 and 3 there is a similarity of form, and agreement in fact, but a variation in emphasis. Meaning, statement 2 emphasizes vinegar, that, yes, even if you have baking soda, if will not react without vinegar. Statement 3 emphasizes baking soda, that vinegar without baking soda cannot react.

Faith and works produces righteousness (the state of being right)

Faith without works is dead. (Yakob)

Works without faith is dead. (Sha’ul)

Faith is the state of belief. To have faith is to believe. Works, means obedience to God through action. Works are actions of obedience towards God. Belief in God and ensuing obedience is what Abraham displayed. It 

was accounted to him for righteousness.

See? No contradiction. None at all. Only the obedient believe, and only the believing obey. You cannot believe without obeying, for true belief produces obedience. You cannot obey without believing – true obedience that is pleasing to God and righteous must come from a point of belief. Belief cannot exist without obedience (that would simply be empty words, proffesions merely). Obedience cannot exist without belief 

(that would simply be dead “works”).

To say that faith produces works would be to stretch the reaction time. The truth is, the reaction is almost immediate. What is faith that is not acted on? It is not faith at all but rather empty confession. True confession demonstrates faith through works. Works are what are tangible, that can be seen. Faith is what cannot be seen, or rather must be seen through action.  True works, obedient action, demonstrates faith. When faith and 

works are present in a disciple, in the works faith is seen, in faith work is produced.

Why have faith? The reason God gives us faith in His is to produce obedience. The reason why you put baking soda into vinegar is to produce a reaction. Faith causes, catalyses action. With faith comes action. There is not enough time, when true faith is imputed into a life, to say, “I have faith, but I’m waiting for the reaction.” No, if you have faith it will show up in your works. If you do not have faith, it will not show up.

Bonhoeffer’s Cost of Discipleship – An Excerpt Loosely Reworded in Simple English by Rebekah Mui.

Note: Almost a hundred years ago the martyr and disciple of Jesus, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, wrote this book in German, without even knowing how much it would benefit the church today, and how pertinently and aptly it describes the state of which the church has fallen into. This short excerpt is by no means an accurate translation of his words,  and I may well be guilty of oversimplification of great truths, but I feel that many today simply cannot understand the rich prose in which Bonhoeffer wrote and the difficult words used in English translations. Bonhoeffer was a remarkable genius, who has his doctorate at age 21. Nothing beats reading his original work, but I hope I have done his work a little justice in making it suitable for simple reading. In any case, this rewording has helped me retain the message of the book and consider each sentence and concept carefully. 

"Cheap grace" is the deadly enemy of our church. What we must fight for today is to retain the true value of God's costly grace. 

"Cheap grace" is a lousy discounted stuff sold for several cents at the flea market, (cut-rate, a real steal, practically sold for nothing or given away) which people throw away without thinking and take for granted. (It is a waste, a terrible disastrous waste.) It is simply presumed and assumed that the central meaning of grace is that the account for our sins has been paid for well in advance.

Cheap grace means the blood and body of Christ, the forgiveness of your sins, and the comforts of a "religion" practically thrown away at ridiculously low prices. The church portrays grace as its never-ending resource which she can just give away indiscriminately. "Grace can be had here, cheap!"

Cheap grace means grace held as belief system and generalized assumption by the church. "Everyone can have their sins forgiven freely!" The precious love of God is exploited as a selling point. "God loves you! As long as you believe this and pray a little prayer your sins will be forgiven. Won't you like that?"  In this kind of “Church” the world can find a cheap covering for their sins - no repentance needed, you don't even need to feel sorrow for your sins or fear the wrath of God - you don't even need to really desire to be set free from sin. In the end, cheap grace is DENIAL of the living Word of God and a denial of the Word of God become flesh (Jesus).

Grace is "peddled" cheaply today, as if it were cheap and lousy trinkets sold by the streets, given without thought to people who would not treasure it, appreciate it, or value it, and would most likely end up throwing away (casting away beautiful, genuine pearls and freely feeding it to swine).  We must fight today to retain the precious treasure, the costly grace of God which we can never achieve, buy, nor afford.

Cheap grace is just saying to the sinner "God has justified you - forgiven you - and is alright with your sin" - without emphasizing or even mentioning the face that you need to get right with God! "Grace, grace alone" they say, so that everything can just remain as it was before. "Let the Christian live like the rest of the world, let him model himself on the world's standards in every area of life, and not presumptuously aspire to live a different life under grace from his old life under under sin... (that would be striving,  you see)"

Cheap grace is actually grace which we imagine, conjure up, and give ourselves. Cheap grace says you can be forgiven without even being repentant or the least bit sorry for the wrong you’ve done, you can be baptized into the church without having to submit yourself to church rules, disciplines, etc., you can enjoy communion as a body without the “unnecessary discomfort” of confessing your sins. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship; grace without the cross; grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.

Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; a man’ will gladly go and sell all that he has to buy the field. It is the genuine and luxurious pearl worth billions which a trader will sell all his goods to purchase (he would take great pains to care for it, insure it, and guard it, wouldn’t he?). God didn't give us a cheap little free gift.

Costly grace is about the kingly rule of Christ for which man will zealously even pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble!

Costly grace is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him.

We must strive today to maintain the costly value of God's grace and reverence it. It is no common thing to be doled out indiscriminately. It is given to those who ask it.  Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again and again, the gift which must be asked (or begged) for, the door at which a man must keep knocking.

Costly grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner.

Above all, costly grace is is costly because it cost God the life of his Son: “you were bought at a price,” and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us. Costly grace is the manifestation and incarnation of God!

Costly grace is the holy, set-apart sanctuary of God; it has to be protected from the world, and not thrown to the dogs. Costly grace is the living word, the Word of God, which he speaks as it pleases him. Costly grace confronts us as a gracious call to follow Jesus. Costly comes as a word of forgiveness to the broken spirit and the contrite heart. Grace is costly because it compels and calls a man to submit to the yoke of Christ and follow him; it is grace because Jesus says: “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

On two separate occasions Peter received the call, “Follow me.” It was the first and last word Jesus spoke to his disciple (Mark 1.17; John 21.22). A whole life lies between these two calls. The first occasion was by the lake of Gennesareth, when Peter left his nets and his craft and followed Jesus at his word.

The second occasion is when the Risen Lord finds him back again at his old trade. Once again it is by the lake of Gennesareth, and once again the call is: “Follow me.” Between the two calls lay a whole life of discipleship in the following of Christ. Half-way between them comes Peter's confession, when he acknowledged Jesus as the Christ of God....

This grace was certainly not self-bestowed. It was the grace of Christ himself that forced itself upon Peter and caused him leave all and follow Christ. It was the grace of Christ himself that worked in Peter that confession which to the world must sound like the ultimate blasphemy, and it was the grace of Christ himself that now invited Peter to the absolute highest fellowship of martyrdom for the Master he had denied. It was the grace of Christ that consequently forgave him all his sins. In the life of Peter, grace and discipleship cannot be separated. He had received the grace which costs.

As Christianity spread, and the Church became more secularized, the costliness of grace was gradually forgotten. The (Western) world was “Christianized”, and grace became just like any other common object. It was to be had cheaply.

Summary: Grace is not the license to do what we want – it is the power to do what God wills! Grace is not the forgiveness of sins doled out – it is infinitely more powerful and of greater value. Grace doesn’t just leave us as we are but compels us and leads us somewhere. It is easier and quicker to define cheap grace and to “use it”, but it takes the cross plus a lifetime to understand and come into a complete revelation of God’s costly grace.