To obey is better than sacrifice
I want more than
sunday and wednesday nights
Cause if you can’t come to me every day
Then don’t bother coming at all
(To Obey is Better Than Sacrifice by Keith Green)
As we continue to explore the building of a Messianic Judaism for the future we need to realize that intrinsic to living a true Messianic Judaism is that it is more than just something we do on Saturday mornings but a lifestyle done seven days a week guided by our Torah.
The above words written by Keith Green, a Jewish follower of Yeshua who left this world before the Messianic Judaism movement began, and therefore framed his Yeshua faith within the Christianity of his day, lays out that a life of following G-d is not just attending services but living everyday for G-d. I imagine that if Keith would be living today as a Messianic Jew that I imagine the lyric would be "I want more than saturday mornings...".
Though we don't have Sunday and Wednesday as our days of religious services (common in evangelical Christianity), the lesson we can learn is that there is more to a Messianic Judaism life, more to walking in the way of Torah, than just attending Shabbat services and doing Messianic Judaism for 2-3 hours on Saturday mornings. Messianic Judaism is a life of walking Torah everyday and is more than just being a Sabbatarian, but a Jewish life of walking a Torah life each day.
So how can we consciously build up a daily walking in Torah ways?
The key is community, being that Judaism is to be lived communally. We need to seek to build up chavurot, Erev Shabbat gatherings, home study groups and even seek to build intentional communities of Messianic Jews living together, either in shared housing, in the same apartment building or in houses in the same neighborhood. We need to be in community to fully live out our lives walking Torah in "the other 6 days".
We have to move beyond the "commuter synagogue" model wherein are "community" is grounded in whatever people are willing to travel 20-50 miles to Saturday services and at 2pm, head back to their separate lives. If we want Messianic Judaism continuity, we have to have Messianic Judaism community.
May we seek to walk in G-d's Torah each day and seek to build living breathing 24/7 Messianic Judaism communities!
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3 comments:
Monday, February 04, 2008 10:27:00 AM
While in my heart I would want to agree with you and even be quit excited about the prospect of that kind of a community, their is another side of me that say's do we take our light out of the dark word by staying in are own little commune? Isn't that what the Jewish community does? and how far have they reached the world for G-d? Or the Christain community who is so rapped up in themselves reaching the lost and dieing has become passa. I believe that we have to share what we know with the ones around us, so if we are only surrounded by are own whom will we reach? Just food for thought.
Shalom
Ann
Friday, February 22, 2008 10:52:00 AM
Amen v'Amen! I'm so glad to meet others in "blogosphere" that believe that Shabbat is important to believers in Yeshua. Shabbat Shalom!
Saturday, September 20, 2008 12:45:00 PM
the community is where one goes to be restored, refreshed, rested, rejuvenated.... it is where family and security and affirmation are to be found.... and accountability...
all these are necessary if one is to be fully girded and prepared to go out into the world as salt and light....
no one says to a believer "you shouldn't live at home but in your car so you can be truly out there..."
as far as "how far has the Jewish community reached?" I say to you that the Jewish community has been hands down the most successful outreach in history, having the largest and most indelible mark and impact on the world of any people group in history...
the problem for my generation is the bad taste left in our mouth by twisted and aberrant attempts at community such as Jonestown and many others, including the communes of the 60's. the devil's delight in stealing and corrupting the G-dly concept thus keeping us from embracing it.
if one is to truly live as an observant Jew one must be part of an observant community.... if one is to live as an observant Messianic Jew one must be a part of a vibrant observant Messianic Community
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