20190817 Parsha Vaetchanan – Guard Your soul

Va’etchanan means ‘I pleaded’. This is the story of Moses asking God one more time to rescind his judgement prohibiting Moses from entering the promised land. Midrash says that Moses asked 515 times. But there is no evidence of that. I believe that he did ask multiple time to be allowed to enter the land. That let’s us know that making multiple petitions before God is ok.

Today I want to focus on chapter 4:15-19

Deuteronomy 4:15-19 “So be very watchful over your souls since you saw no form on the day that Adonai spoke to you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire, (16) so that you do not act corruptly and make for yourselves a graven image in the likeness of any figure—the form of a male or female, (17) the form of any animal that is on the earth, the form of any winged bird that flies in the sky, (18) the form of anything that creeps on the ground, the form of any fish that is in the water under the earth— (19) and so that you do not lift up your eyes toward the heavens and see the sun and the moon and the stars—all the heavenly host—and are drawn away and bow down and worship them. Adonai your God has allotted them to all the peoples under all the heavens.

“Be watchful over your souls…”. In some translations it is rendered ‘guard’ rather than ‘be watchful’. So the name of the sermon today is “Guard Your Souls”.

Five Levels of the Soul
1. Nefesh –
2. Ruach
3. Neshama
4. Chayah
5. Yechida

The first verse of this portion makes an interesting premise. It says to guard your own soul, not the soul of your wife, daughter, or son. Your soul is yours to keep.

In Jewish thought, the soul referred to here is the nefesh. Nefesh is the most basic level of our consciousness. It is the animal level, the level which animates and gives function to the body. Every animal that breaths has a nefesh.

The second level is the Ruach. That is the ‘wind’, but could be called the emotion generator.

The next level is the Neshama. Neshama is the third level and it is what allows one to distinguish between good and evil.

The nefesh could be argued not to be a soul at all. It is the most ethereal of all physicality, like a wisp of air disappearing into a small breeze. All animals and all humans have a nefesh, each programmed with the bodily stimuli God wanted for the particular individual or species. Only humans have a neshama. If you want to see the difference, watch the animals. Anything both animals and humans do is of the nefesh, for example, eating an apple. Anything only a human does, is of the neshama. For example, saying a prayer of thanksgiving before and after eating that apple.

The last two levels of the soul as enumerated in Jewish thought are Chaya ‘Life’, and Yechidah ‘Oneness’. These two are complex and beyond the scope of time we have this morning.

In our text this morning, the level of the soul referred to is nefesh. This is the most basic level and just means ‘hey, I’m alive’.

Slide: Bible on Talit
So what is Moses trying to say here? I believe he is saying that we should start with the basics. He was reminding Israel that they needed to go back to the defining moment of all Judaism, the giving of Torah at Mount Sinai. He said to remember that in all the awesome displays of power and majesty at Sinai they never saw God in any physical form. He is a Spirit and as such must be worshipped as a spirit and not as a physical being.

John 4:24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

People in the days of Moses were used to having gods that could be touched, held, seen and carried with them in some cases. These deities appealed to their senses and gave them a feeling of security, confidence, happiness, basically a warm fuzzy. So Moses is warning Israel that their God is not like any of the Canaanite false gods. We look at them and think how foolish the people were to want to put their faith and trust in a rock, or stick.

Fortunately, we don’t do that today. Or do we?…….. Do we make idols out of hardware, software, Hollywood, Washington DC? Do we spend all our waking hours with our eyes glued to a computer screen? Now that might not qualify as worship. But those things certainly divert our mental and emotional and physical resources away from our calling. Does that make all those things idols? Maybe not in the traditional sense, but it is close.

It’s time to go back to basics and make God the central focus of our lives.

How else do we guard our souls? The Psalmist David tells us:

Psalms 39:2 I said: “I will guard my ways, so I will not sin with my tongue. …”

It is an interesting picture that David paints for me because of the words he uses. He says I will guard my ways, my path, my route. Couple that with the image of the tongue as a rudder of a ship. Jacob, in the book of James speaks of the tongue.

James 3:1-5 Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, since you know that we will receive a stricter judgment. (2) For we all stumble in many ways. If someone does not stumble in speech, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well. (3) And if we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we guide their whole body as well. (4) See also the ships—though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. (5) So also the tongue is a small member—yet it boasts of great things. See how so small a fire sets a blaze so great a forest!

In my mind’s eye I see a ship pilot guiding the ship through a winding channel. So the tongue can influence or direct our lives through the winding paths that we encounter. Just as a ship has an engine room and propellers to provide the power to push the ship along it still needs that little rudder so that big hunk of floating steel doesn’t run aground. From personal experience I know that running a ship aground can ruin your day and career. You need to control that rudder.

Applied to our sometimes not so boring lives, that rudder known as the tongue can keep us away from the shoals. Hitting the shoals of life can certainly ruin your day, your marriage, your career, your personal relationships. You get the picture.

At the same time, controlling our lives via the tongue brings blessing. In fact that same little piece of flesh can bless God and curse your neighbor. Your choice. Guard your soul.

I don’t think I need to do a cost/benefit analysis for you this morning but just to point out the Biblically obvious.

Proverbs 4:23 Guard your heart diligently, for from it flow the springs of life.

Guard your heart. Guard your emotions and your spirit. You have now moved up to that third level of your soul. The neshama. That seat of emotion. You may say that you are not an emotional person. Everyone is emotional. It’s just that the right button has not been pushed hard enough. I cannot watch movies where women or children are abused. You want to see me cry like a baby, trick me into watching a movie where the little kid dies of some terrible disease. That’s one of my buttons.

We all have emotional buttons, some good, some bad. Anger can destroy a person. This last week in one of the several stories about mass shootings, the police described one of the perpetrators as being full of anger. It may be one of the toughest emotions to curb.

There are many emotions and habits that we need to curb. I’m sure all of us, if we would be honest with ourselves, could make a list of those things that we need to throttle back on. Make your own list and work on it.

But there are also emotions that we can develop that will build us up, build others up, just make the world a better place. Start with the second greatest commandment. Love your neighbor as yourself. Put others first, ahead of you. How many times do you get to the line at HEB and see that old lady or single mom with the bedraggled look clutching one item and you have a basket full? Do you invite her to go ahead of you? That one is easy. How about putting on the signal to change lanes and the driver in the rear-view mirror speeds up to get ahead of you rather than letting you change lanes? Hello? Buttons pushed anyone?

Doing the right thing at the right time for the right reasons just makes your heart feel good. Guard your heart.

And in conclusion, we have talked about what we can do to guard our souls. But did you know you have a helper?

Philippians 4:6-7 Do not be anxious about anything—but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. (7) And the shalom of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Messiah Yeshua.

We don’t have to struggle alone. We have a friend and advocate. The peace of God, that shalom, that completeness, that comes from knowing Yeshua will guard our hearts and minds.

Invitation

20190803 Parsha Mattot-Massei – Can The Apostate Return?

This week’s Parsha is Mattot/Massei. It is a double Parsha. Mattot means Tribes. It speaks of men and women making vows, taking revenge on Midian, and the settling of Reuben and Gad on the east side of the Jordan. Massei means Stages, and it describes the places the Israelites camped in their wilderness journeys, boundaries of the land, a list of the tribal chiefs, cities of refuge, and marriage of female heirs.

There is a wealth of material from which to build a sermon in these seven chapters, however, I will be talking about current events with just a nod to the cities of refuge.

This last week I saw a story pop up on my computer news feed. Joshua Harris, a prominent former Christian pastor and author of several publications, such as “I Kissed Dating Goodbye,” had recently divorced and then later renounced his faith.

Harris explained in an Instagram post, “The information that was left out of our [separation] announcement is that I have undergone a massive shift in regard to my faith in Jesus. The popular phrase for this is ‘deconstruction,’ the biblical phrase is ‘falling away.’ By all the measurements that I have for defining a Christian, I am not a Christian. Many people tell me that there is a different way to practice faith and I want to remain open to this, but I’m not there now.”

In light of this sad announcement, the question arises, has Joshua Harris forfeited his salvation beyond any hope of recovery? It is an understandable question when you consider the following verse in Hebrews.

Hebrews 6:4-6 For it is impossible for those who once were enlightened—having tasted of the heavenly gift and become partakers of the Ruach ha-Kodesh, (5) and having tasted the good word of God and the powers of the olam ha-ba, (6) and then having fallen away—to renew again to repentance, since they are again crucifying Ben-Elohim for themselves and publicly disgracing Him.

This passage has given many backsliders industrial grade heartburn. They ask, “will God take me back? Is God’s mercy big enough to forgive my sins? Am I forever lost?

God Forgives and Restores

Spoiler alert! The answer is all throughout scripture. It should be no mystery. Absolutely yes! God will forgive and restore.

Look at what Hashem said to Israel through his prophet Jeremiah.

Slide:
Jeremiah 3:22 “Return, backsliding children! I will heal your backsliding.”
This passage is not unique in the Bible. Right now, in the Sunday night Torah Study, we are studying the book of Judges where the people of Israel go through a cycle of sin, repentance and restoration followed by sin, repentance and restoration. It seems there is no limit to God’s mercy.

I am often reminded of Peters words:

2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some consider slowness. Rather, He is being patient toward you—not wanting anyone to perish, but for all to come to repentance.

Consider for a moment the triad of parables in Luke 15. There’s the parable of the lost sheep where the shepherd leaves the flock in a safe place and goes out to find the one lost one. Why does he do that? He still has 99 sheep. What’s one more? Because as a good shepherd he was not willing for even one to perish.

The second parable is about a woman who loses a coin in her home. She lights a lamp and sweeps the house searching high and low until she finds it. Even though she has 9 other coins, that one was important enough that she called her friends and neighbors together to rejoice with her in finding her lost coin. Why? Because she was not willing to forgo the loss of just one coin. Yeshua said “In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

And finally there is the story of the prodigal son. We all know this famous story of the younger son who doesn’t want to wait around for his 1/3 of the estate. (Remember the firstborn gets a double portion). He asked his father for his portion now. The father gave him his portion and the lad went out and spent much of his inheritance on wine, women and song. The rest of it he wasted. At the end of the adventure, broke, tired, and hungry he realized that the servants in his father’s household were better off than he was currently residing in a pig pen.

He determined to go back home and beg forgiveness and resign himself to servanthood. His father never got over losing his son. Each day he scanned the countryside in the hope that his son would someday reappear. That father never gave up on his son. There was always mercy and forgiveness in his heart. When the son showed up, the father was overjoyed and held a celebration. Nothing the son did could drive a wedge between him and his father that was big enough to break the relationship.

These three stories illustrate why we are encouraged to pray for those who have fallen and help them find their way back to Hashem. Yeshua’s brother, Yaacov (James) said it like this.

James 5:19-20 My brothers and sisters, if any among you strays from the truth and someone turns him back, (20) let him know that the one who turns a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.

What a great promise that is!

WHAT ABOUT REJECTING GOD

It is true that some people blaspheme the Spirit, a sin for which there is no forgiveness (see Mark 3:22-30). But people who harden their hearts to that degree will have neither the thought nor the desire to repent. They have utterly rejected God.

John also speaks about a sin the leads to death, writing, 1 John 5:16-17

Slide: 1 John 5:16-17
If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he should ask, and God will give life to those who commit sin not leading to death. There is a sin leading to death—I am not saying you should ask about that. (17) All unrighteousness is sin, but there is sin not leading to death.

What, exactly, does John have in mind? There is great debate among biblical commentators, since we have no further background information that brings absolute clarity to his words. There is even debate about what kind of death John speaks of, physical or spiritual.

Slide: Apostate Monthly
It might be safest to say that, in the event that we see someone cross the point of no return, their rejection of the Lord will be so final and ultimate that we will sense the futility of praying for them.

But, to repeat, from the beginning to the end of the Bible, there are calls for backsliders to repent, with an offer of mercy for those who return. Jesus died for those sins too.

HEBREWS IN CONTEXT

Then what are we to make of Hebrews 6:4-6? It’s important that we remember that Hebrews was written to Jewish followers of Jesus. For them, apostasy from the faith could mean a return to Jewish faith without Jesus, a return to the Temple-based sacrifice system, a return to repentance without the Messiah’s blood.

The author appears to be telling them that, as long as they remain in that state, there is no repentance for them. As rendered in the ISV,

Hebrews 6:4-6
For it is impossible to keep on restoring to repentance time and again people who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have become partners with the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of God’s word and the powers of the coming age, and who have fallen away, as long as they continue to crucify the Son of God to their own detriment by exposing him to public ridicule” (my emphasis).

By denying Jesus and going back to their traditional Jewish faith, they were crucifying Him all over again. And to the extent that they did this openly, they exposed Him to public ridicule.

Although they thought they could find repentance in their Jewish traditions without the Messiah, they were sadly, fatally wrong.

TRUE REPENTANCE LEADS TO LIFE

So what is the bottom line? Can a person who denies Yeshua return to the Lord? I believe that if a person is truly repentant and turns away from his sin and apostacy, the Father will run towards him and embrace him saying “For this son of mine was dead and has come back to life—he was lost and is found!”

For this reason I want to ask anyone who is in this building this morning that feels like you have slipped away. Satan has told you that you cannot come back to the Lord. He’s a liar. The Father is on the throne of heaven just waiting for you to repent and return to Him.

Also I want to encourage everyone here today who has friends or family that are not living right, don’t give up praying for them. Remember, God is not willing for anyone to perish. He wants everyone to be saved. He sent his son to die for the world, not just a part of the world, but the whole world.