Living the Life by Dying the Death

          In the chapter entitled “A way, truths, and (a part of our) lives,” I approached the subject of how Yeshua told us we should live. As I mentioned, nearly everybody I’ve talked to just doesn’t think that’s practical. And as I’ve mentioned elsewhere, most are quick to defend their right to have material “stuff”. They’ll say, “Well, God blessed Abraham with riches! And David, and Solomon, and Job.” All very true. But in their haste to defend their “rights”, they miss my point; and more importantly, the points made by all of the writers of the Word, and even more importantly, the points made by Yeshua, the Author and Finisher of our faith.

The Word tells us that the gospel (to mimic Yeshua’s walk and talk) is foolishness to the Greeks and to those who perish, and a stumbling block to the Jews. Which team do you want to pick you?

“But to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, ha Messiach (is) the power of God and the wisdom of God.” Pick me! Pick me!

One thing I left out in the above mentioned chapter is that Yeshua ha Messhiach is not only The Way, The Truth, and The Life, but was also Love in the form of a man, or Love made flesh. So let’s use some math, you know, if A=B, and B=C, then C must equal A (also known as logic).

If the reader thinks I’m picking on him/her, well, you’re right. I’m trying to blend the truth with some sarcastic humor and some good ol’ fire and brimstone. You’ll see that not only Yeshua, but also many, if not all, of the writers God chose to write His Book share this technique. The purpose is to stir up the reader, to “tug at his/her heartstrings,” to get the reader to think. Adolph Hitler once stated, “How fortunate for the rulers that men do not think.” Please know that I do this out of love. Please know that I do this out of Truth. Whoops! I just repeated myself.

Back to the math. You see, if The Way = The Truth, and The Truth = The Life, then The Life must = The Way. Logic. Now I’ll add some further dimension to this formula.

The Word tells us that God is Love. A = B. The Word says that God is Spirit. A = C. The Word says that God is The Word (In the beginning, the Word was with God, and the Word was God). A = D. The Word says that the Word = flesh. (Whoops! It actually says that “The Word was made flesh, so we’ll substitute Yeshua for flesh.) So, The Word = Yeshua. D = E.

There are many other equivalents in the Scriptures I could throw in, but the above will be sufficient to show the direction I’m going in here.

Because of the laws of logic, it’s more than reasonable to mix and match any or all of the above without assuming (or violating the logic with conjecture). To keep it simple, let’s pick out a few components of the formula to make the point.

God is Love. Love was made flesh in His only begotten offspring, Yeshua. Yeshua ha Messiach is The Truth. Therefore, God was made Love in the flesh in Yeshua ha Meshiach. And Love = The Truth. Are you with me?

So, Love = The Way, and so forth. You can’t have Love without God (I John). You can’t have Love without The Truth. You also can’t have Love without The Way. It’s like having water without wet. And if you mix and match all of the above components, you’ll sooner or later arrive at the Gospel. “The Gospel is the Power of God unto salvation.” But if we add to or subtract from The Gospel, it’s no longer The Truth. It’s no longer Love. It’s no longer The Way. Beware of the leaven…

Today, we have a myriad of denominations. Preachers in these denominations might say, “I’m not saying the guys at that other denomination aren’t saved, after all, we agree on “this point or that point”, but…” Or they may say, “We know that that denomination is a cult because…” The point is, all of them seem to have added to or taken away from the Gospel, else there wouldn’t be division. They would be of one accord. The primary cause of these divisions is pride, or selfishness, born of false doctrines and lies. I know that sounds harsh, but look at the facts. The Truth is that there is “one Faith, one Church, and one Baptism.” And using the formula above, Yeshua ha Meshiach = Agape, The Spirit is Agape, and Agape means unselfish, self-denying love in action. One can only acquire agape’ by dying to self and being baptized in the covenant Blood of Yeshua ha Meshiach (for the remission of sins) and receiving the Spirit of agape’ and by continuing in it. This is what the apostles taught, the apostles’ doctrine, that they learned from their Teacher. And no student is greater than his Master. So that’s why they simply, willingly, even eagerly, gave up all their material, or worldly stuff. This was a vital part of The Faith. The Way.

Do you really want to know what God despises? Someone who says, “Let’s not do any more than we really have to in order to get into Heaven.” But today’s church, at least from what I’ve seen in the U.S., hangs on to it’s material possessions, and will fight to the last breath to do so, pulling scriptures out of context to prove their right to do so, using the letter to find loopholes, just as the Pharisees did. “Beware the leaven of the Pharisees; A little leaven leavens the whole lump”. If I’ve ever seen a leavened church, it’s the church in the U.S. today. And what’s even sadder is that we’re exporting our leaven. We’ve bought into the whole God = America, and America = materialism, so God = materialism Lie. Why? Because we should. Why should we?

 “The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan (the spirit of the world, or selfishness)*, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth (The Way)*, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”   (Both * and emphasis’ added by author.)

Ok. All throughout scripture, unrighteousness = wicked = worthless = not sharing our stuff with those less fortunate (see Psalms 37:16-17, 49:6-11, and 52:7). The references are almost too numerous to count. Of course, unrighteousness also refers to other sins, but there are plenty of scriptures that point directly at the unrighteousness and the consequences of hanging onto our stuff. Also, agape’, unselfish love, covers a multitude of sins.

Many times when people are giving excuses for hanging onto their stuff, it’s because, they say, “We’re being good stewards of what God has given us”. Please allow me to point something out. In the Word, a good steward was always busily about his Master’s business. Let me ask: If Yeshua had “stuff”, what would He “be about” doing with it? Would He be justifying that He had every right to keep it, or to use it for His own needs, or would He be distributing it to others with needs, knowing that if He needed more tomorrow that His Father would provide for what He needed? What did He say?

Now, Paul wrote, “But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith (what happened to “once saved always saved”?)* in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But you, O man of God, pursue righteousness (The Faith)…” A few verses later he continues, “Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation (Yeshua and the apostles are the foundation)* for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.” Whoa! (* and emphasis added by author.)

Now, let’s look again at what the “Acts church” was doing in accordance with the apostles’ doctrine. “Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all. Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, and laid them at the apostles’ feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need.” ( Author’s emphasis’.) I’ve shown in “The Tithe” that the tithing doctrine is unscriptural (even though this scripture alone disproves “tithing”); suffice it to say for now that if pastors were to preach this SCRIPTURE in earnest TRUTH, they’d lose many of their wealthy attendees and the big “tithe” checks that came with them. In many cases (not all), it can be considered the all-important tax deductible “tithe” checks, even though Jesus said to “render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, and unto God what is God’s (after buying our stuff?).

Now, “rich”, of course, is a relative term, thus giving most people an “honest” (I use that term lightly) out. A worldly dictionary would define “rich” as something like “having lots of stuff and a big bank account to boot.” So of course, most christians defend themselves by saying things like, “I’m not wealthy. I’ve just been wise and a good steward so that God has rewarded me for my diligence, so He’s provided for all my needs, that’s all.” We’ve got christianeze dialogue to handle all kinds of uncomfortable situations. Well, many have sure looked “rich” to me, and also looked “rich” compared to “the less stewardly” in their own congregations. But my opinion doesn’t really count, does it? So let’s look at a few things Yeshua said about the subject.

Yeshua said, for starters, that we “can’t love both God and mammon”. All through the gospels He gives us situational definitions of what “mammon” is. Most people interpret mammon to mean money, and so the christianeze takes over and they say, “I don’t have a lot of money.” Of course not. We’ve spent it on all our stuff. Or they’ll say, “Sure, God blessed me (because I’m such a good steward) with money, but I don’t love it, and as long as ‘my money doesn’t own me’, I’m okay.” Great christianeze!

Yeshua points out, over and over, what He considers to be mammon. Grains and barns, lands, houses, possessions, lots to eat, lots of clothes, silver and gold (of course); basically, anything that can’t be transferred to our accounts in Heaven. He says that the only way to transfer any of it to our accounts in Heaven is to give it away to those less fortunate! We can’t hang on to the world (mammon) and God at the same time. We can’t serve two masters. He says to take no thought of tomorrow, what we’ll eat or what we’ll wear; our Father knows what we need, and He’ll take care of us.

Need. Interesting word. Also a relative term. Just for context, what are the first two four-letter words our younguns learn? “I want that!” “That’s mine!” Proof positive that the sin comes with the seed.

Need. Did I call that a relative term? As far as I know, the last time I checked the biology books (I know, we’ve got to be careful going there), we need air, water, food, clothing (covering), shelter, and (God’s) Love, although the biology books substitute primordial slime for God’s Love. Everything else falls into the want category. I want this for myself, I want that for my wife, and I want those for my children, so they’ll be “happy” (also a relative and very dangerous term). Happy is most often worldly in context. Blessed is the Godly equivalent. Often we’re blessed but our desire to be happy turns the blessing to worldliness, or sin, when we want to hang onto or keep or possess or store up what we’ve been blessed with. The truth is, when we do hang onto what we’ve been blessed with, it’s no longer truly a blessing because the selfishness (the cares of the world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desire for other things) has taken the God-blessing out of it. Our desire to hang onto it removes the love. Therefore, the only way to keep the blessing is to give it away. To die to ourselves. To love one another. “Without love, you’re as sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.” “You show me your faith by what you say, and I’ll show you my faith by what I do.” “…covetousness, which is idolatry.” And so on. The true fruit of being Blessed is to give it away and receive gladness (the Spirit’s blessing, or grace) in return.

So, I’ve had said to me repeatedly, “What do you expect me to do? Sell my house, quit my job, and move into a cave with my wife and kids? Peter kept his house, and Lydia had a house; where are we supposed to meet, when it says, ‘they went house to house?’” Victoriously, they cast their eyes upon me, knowing I don’t have a practical answer. (Don’t pick on me! It wasn’t my idea!) Well, Yeshua and the apostles didn’t have a practical answer, either. So they died to themselves to escape the practical world’s hold on them. Yeshua first, and then others after Him, overcame the world. And that’s what they taught. Yeshua said, “…difficult is the way…” And that’s why the “faithless” generation wouldn’t accept that what they said was from God without the miracle signs. “This wicked generation requires a sign…”

Ok. So how do we make this practical? …Heavy sigh.

Well, we have to separate (holy means to be separate from the world) from the world even though we still live in it. We need to evaluate if all our stuff is what we need or what we want. Yes, we may lose our wives and kids and families and houses and lands and lives in the process; Yeshua told us it would be so. Pretty hard stuff. In fact, Paul writes that if our unbelieving spouse can’t live with our faith, let them go. We’re not bound. Pretty hard stuff. We mustn’t repeat Adam’s sin by trying to hang on to the blessing and so disobey God and lose our true lives in the process. Pretty hard stuff. We may need to sell our house and move into an apartment or a much smaller house, or even move in with others of one mind and one accord. Pretty hard stuff. We may need to hand-wash (God forbid) our clothes, or hand-sew them. Pretty hard stuff. We may need to sell our mini-vans and cars and quit our jobs and get a job we can walk to (God forbid), and work with our hands (I Cor. 4:12) and make less money (“I know your poverty, but you are rich!”).

But we won’t need to make as much money because we won’t have all that stuff, and we won’t need to buy more stuff. And our wives may have to quit their jobs and stay at home with the kids (God forbid!) And we may need to pick up the slack by helping her with some of the labors. (God forbid!) And there may be no more TV or video games or internet or boats or closets full of clothes or jewelry or savings accounts, and we may need to depend on “our Father in Heaven” for our daily needs (God forbid). After all, we’re supposed to be His representatives, His Body on Earth, His living words (poema).

Yes, it was probably difficult and “complicated” for the apostles and disciples, but they dealt with it, and the complications went away with their stuff (“…and they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart”). They lived humble and simple lives in which they depended on God and on each other. After they got rid of their possessions, they relied on each other to pick up the slack (Acts 4:34-35). They lived the Gospel. They hungered and thirsted for righteousness. They were the body of Christ, and they called their discipline The Way.

This is not my opinion. I challenge the reader, look it up! Search the Word of God to see if what I’m saying here is The Truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. And when you’ve looked, and dug, and searched, and prayed, you’ll see it is so, because the Word can’t be broken.

The above explanation from the Word explains a lot of things. First of all, if you’ll look, you’ll see that the Holy Spirit was so pleased that He dwelt among them, for real. They feared God. They supported each other (“…carry one the others’ burdens”). There weren’t thousands of denominations, but One Ecclesia. They no longer had worldly burdens (“Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”) They didn’t need worldly politics to push their agendas and to protect them and to defend their “rights”. They fulfilled Jesus Christ’s prophesy that “if you give up fathers and mothers and wives and…houses and lands and your own lives, you’ll receive in this world a hundred-fold, “mothers and…houses and lands and eternal life, and persecutions.” Why persecutions? Because they were so at-odds with the world that it would reject (martyr) them (“… the world hated Me first, and if you’re in Me, the world will hate you too…”). Because their actions threatened the power of the established commercial and religious authorities. Because they weren’t buying “stuff”, and it ticked off those selling stuff (that’s scriptural, just look!) But they got houses back because they were the house of the Lord, and they shared each others’ houses; they were mothers and sisters and brothers to each other, and they shared One Father, as they shared life presently and in the age to come. Look it up! Look for what Yeshua said! Look at what the apostles and their disciples did! Look at how the Holy Spirit responded! And then say once more how God doesn’t require that we give up our stuff. They “put on Christ.” Yeshua said He was The Way. The Apostles and their disciples called their way The Way. Is there another Way? Is there another Truth? Is there another Life?

No, good works, without the Blood, for “the Life is in the Blood”, won’t do a thing for us. But if we claim the Blood, we’d better start living the Life, or we don’t have His Spirit, and if we don’t have His Spirit, we’re not His! (Romans 8:6-14)

“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the Ecclesias.”

“To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.”