We are living in an era of moral inversion.  “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. “ (Isaiah 5:20)
Justice, true justice is void.  Solving our problems seems insurmountable.  The challenges are not just political but spiritual.  Our society has lost its way.  Abortion, transsexualism, homosexuals, the LGTBQT etc etc. have taken the spotlight and anyone who cries “wrong” is given a title of some sort.

Honestly, I have no solution for our problems.  Our call to discipleship leaves us in a quandary.  Just how do we approach these problems of society?  I assume you have no answers either.   

Living in the 1st century under Roman rule, with all its immorality, the early Believers grew in numbers.  Somehow, deep inside the human soul, they knew the lavish and decadent life was wrong.  They gathered to hear Paul’s preaching. Paul spoke not only to Gentiles but to his Jewish brethren.  He presented Jeshua as the one who raised the bar on immorality and yet did not desert the teachings of Torah.  He didn’t start a new religion.  He kept within the framework of the Hebrew scriptures.  

I have mentioned the word Torah many times in my writings.  What is the Torah?  You can find it of course by doing a bit of research but basically, it’s the teachings of the first five books of our Bible.  It also forms the basics of how Jesus himself taught and used those teachings in his ministry.  The problem being it is open to various interpretations.  Jesus had most of his disputes with the Pharisees who held a strict interpretation of the Teachings.

When Jeshua declared His new Covenant, He was not declaring the old outdated and “nailed to the cross”.  The “sin and death” from Paul’s  Roman letter does not mean the Torah or its teachings are erroneous.

Romans 8 begins and ends with declarations of the Believers absolute security before God. There is no condemnation for us who become disciples of the Messiah. Nothing will ever be able to separate us from His love.

 We are unable to keep God’s teachings. But the Master is and was the only one who was able and willing to do that for us.  It is by faith in Him that allows us to call God Abba Father. We are confident that God loves us and sent the Messiah to fulfill all the obligations that God requires of His people. 

 Many of today’s preachers are saying that the old Law is outdated, and we no longer need it since grace has replaced the teachings of Torah. So, I guess God made a mistake the first time but corrected it later. Really?

And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins.” – Mark 2:22

An interesting story about the wineskins.  The old wineskins did not declare the Torah or its teachings to be outdated but how to apply them regarding one’s life.  Mark verse 22, teaches that the Pharisees lived lives like old wineskins. When new wine was poured in, the wineskins would break apart and the wine wasted. Jesus however, brought freedom in grace. His grace could not be held in legalistic rules that the Pharisees enforced over others. We cannot alter Jeshua to fit our mold of religion.  We must remember that we are the jars, and He is the Potter. He will shape us to learn. To try to fit Jesus’ teachings of love and freedom into the Pharisaical legalism (or even its modern-day equivalences) will result in loss of truth and freedom and living under His grace to us.    

As Disciples we minister while we are learning.  We show by example. Our mission should always be done by example.  It’s what we do with our ministry that is important.  That’s the story of the Good Samaritan.  Just getting on your knees for prayer isn’t enough.  It’s our call to show the way. 

                           That’s what being a disciple is all about.