8.10.25 ~ What Happens When?

Good morning!

What happens when your actions drown out your words? We’ve all seen it – people preaching passionately, yet living in a way that contradicts their message.  And when that happens, the world stops listening. I have resembled that too many times in the past :-( 

In this weekend's Torah  portion, va'etchanan, Moses says that when God's people live out the Commandments, the nations will recognize their wisdom and praise God  (Deut. 4:6). Yeshua echoes this: 

“let your light shine before men so that they may see your good Works and glorify your father who is in heaven“ (Matt. 5:16) 

if our deeds don’t match our confession, our witness goes silent. 

When people think of the law of  Moses (Acts 28:23 Josh. 8:32), they don’t get warm fuzzies. But God’s people should be the exception. We should have the Torah deep in our circumcised hearts (Deut. 10:16; Eze. 18:31; Rom. 2:28,29 etc.,). 

Through Moses, God told Israel that when they live out his commandments, the nations will see their wisdom, and say: 

"See I have taught your statutes and rules as the Lord my God commanded me that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom, and your understanding in the site of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statues will say,“surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. For what great nation is there that has a god zone near to it as the Lord our God is to us whenever we call upon him and what great nation is there that has statutes and rules of righteous as all this law that I set before you today? (Deut. 4:5-8) 

 Yeshua  alluded to this in the sermon on the mount: 

“you are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. You do not put a lamp under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good Works and give glory to your father who is in heaven  (Matthew 5:14–16). 

 Proverbs 6:23 gives us the definition of Yeshua's words, 

" For the Commandment is a lamp and the Torah is the light. (Prov. 6:23)

The lamp is the Commandments. The light people are meant to see is the Torah lived out. When God‘s people display His commandments, others see the beauty of the Torah and glorify Him. They say, "These people are living right.  Their god is near them. All of creation is longing for the day when God's people fully enter into His new/renewed covenant (Rom. 8:22-25 Jer. 31:31-34; Heb. 8:10-12).  

"For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts, and I will be their God and they should be my people and no longer Shall each one teaches neighbor and each his brother saying know the Lord, but they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest declares the Lord, I will forgive their equity, and I will remember their sin no more." (Jer. e1:31-34; Heb. 8:10-12)

 One feature of the new covenant is that Torah observance becomes part of who we are. Yeshua warned against relaxing, even the least commandment, praising those who keep and teach them  and telling us, unless your righteousness succeeds that of describes in Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 5:19–20.) 

How does our righteousness exceed  the scribes and Pharisees (Matt. 23:1, 2)? Is it simply by saying, "Yeshua is Lord"?. No, It’s when our deeds match our confession. Don’t just tell others to help the poor – be involved yourself. Don’t just say be faithful – live faithful. Don’t just talk about patience, kindness, and self-control – bear their fruits in your life. Every page of our Bible emphasizes deed over creed; knowing actions carry more weight than our words. 

When We live out his instructions. We shine the light of Torah and bring Him glory. But if we all shout out “Jesus saves“ without fruit, we radiate darkness. If people don’t see the light of Torah in us, they probably aren’t seeing Yeshua either – no matter how loudly we speak His name. 

As you enter into this 22nd day of counting towards the first fruit of the oil, may your light shine and the nations proclaim, "wow, you are so wise and understanding"! "And my, oh my, how Yahsome it is to have God so close to you."

Shalom!
Alan

Sabbath morning zoom call: Submitting to those over you the life lesson from Moses (Deut. 3:23-4:49)

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