Disengaged Devotion

Worship is not a passive, spectator exercise. The Word requires total commitment not only in the heart while sitting in a pew, but also in every aspect of our lives. by Alan Mansager

Compare two worship scenes: It’s the seventh day of the week. Dressed rather simply, an unassuming man who looks like everyone else sits on a seashore rock, speaking and gesturing to a growing group of curious gatherers.

A gust of wind wafts a scent of seaweed. Waves roll over the sand as the teacher, now just offshore in a weathered fishing boat, tells a parable about a sower scattering seed on a field littered with rocks and weeds. His manner is straightforward as he punctuates his message with warnings against lust and sin, urging the crowd to beware of wicked and adulterous generations.

Quoting liberally from the Old Testament Scriptures and their prophecies, he explains that he has come not to bring harmony to this world but to separate those who would follow truth from those who are at home with traditions and the allures of the world.

His listeners are spellbound by his penetrating insights and boldness. They listen intently, captivated by the incisive truth of his words. Some are convinced to change their lives.

He is provocative, unlike anyone they have ever heard. Some are a bit offended. Others so seethe with anger they would like nothing more than to stone him.

Sensing their hostility, he breaks away, only to be followed by a large part of the crowd wanting more.

We switch now to a different teacher in another place and time.

It’s morning, the first day of the week. An individual wearing a white robe with gilded sleeves enters an ornate sanctuary and climbs ceremoniously to a high oak podium decorated with various symbols. Nearby a golden altar supports tiers of ivory candles. Rays of rainbow-drenched light beam through stained window glass. A red-robed choir presents a melodious chorus to the rich sounds of J.S. Bach played on a massive pipe organ.

The audience rises from plush pews to repetitively chant the minister’s doxology, who then motions them to sit in unison.

His euphonic voice speaks of love and grace and peace and getting along with people of all faiths. He tells the halfengaged audience they are all one in the family of humanity and must accept the great diversity of religious beliefs in the interest of love and unity with all men and with planet earth.

Drawing his 20-minute homily from a snippet of a “Pauline” verse, he bids farewell to the genteel laity. Another organ number breaks into a crescendo to end the service, anticipated by a congregation looking forward to finishing the rest of the day in worldly entertainment.

It’s two different modes of worship totally out of touch with each other. One is firmly planted in ancient truths and is alive, relevant, spontaneous, riveting, and life-changing. The other is stale, predictable routine, low impact, and –most importantly – filled with platitudes and centuries of musty tradition in all its fallacies.

Conditioned for Error

Could they be transported back 2,000 years to stand on the seashore and listen to the Savior, most churchgoers today would be too uncomfortable to linger long. It just wouldn’t feel like “church,” so how could it be right? Our society is so accustomed to tradition in worship that anything different from what many have grown up with is rejected as heresy.

Especially is that true of ingrained teachings. The centuries-old legacies handed down through the mainstream have put today’s worshiper in a spiritual straitjacket. For fear of what they might discover, most are unwilling to take their Bibles out of their closets and prove what they are told.

Others simply lack the motivation to test whether what they have grown up believing is in tune with scriptural teaching. Few even take their Bibles to church services to “prove all things; hold fast that which is good,” as the noble Bereans were praised for doing (IThes. 5:21, Acts 17:11).

If they did, they would quickly discover that the Bible instructs very differently from what centuries of tradition and amalgamation with other belief systems have led millions to accept as truth.

How many have stopped to consider that the Savior was not a “Christian,” but a Hebrew, a Jew. He based His teachings exclusively on truths taught in the Old

Testament (the ONLY Scriptures in existence at that time).

How many churchgoers today really grasp the plain fact that Christianity sprang from Old Testament Israelite worship? This simple reality is a thinly veiled secret in denominational religion, yet the evidence cries out in many traditions and practices of worship.

Having Israelite roots explains why churches today still have “altars,” as did ancient Israel. It is the reason churches continue to take up what are known as “offerings,” just as Israelites brought their sacrificial offerings before Yahweh.

Because it grew out of Judaism, churchianity still gives lip service to worship on one day of the week as Judah and Israel did on the Sabbath.

In revealing its roots, the weekly Communion service replicates Israel’s Passover with its symbols of the body and blood ingested by the congregation. Easter is a perversion of the Passover (Acts 12:4, where “Easter” is a mistranslation of the Greek Pascha or Passover).

Some churches have “sanctuaries,” or holy places. Others see the church building itself as holy. This is simply a throwback to the Jerusalem temple and the Holy of Holies of the Tabernacle of Israel where Yahweh dwelled and where no one dared enter but the high priest on Atonement.

The music of the modern church song service is directly tied to the Old Testament practice of singing Psalms, which King David set to music, as well as the songs Israel sang.

Terms like “elder,” “teacher,” “pastor,” and “shepherd” trace to the worship of ancient Israel. Similarly, “amen,” “halleluyah,” and other terms used in modern worship have been adapted from Hebrew.

Rejecting the Roots of Truth

Regardless of these and many more similarities in practice and doctrine, to advocate seriously investigating the Old Testament as the foundation of biblical truth would get one quickly ushered out the door of most churches today.

Through centuries of conditioning, the average Bible believer today has been led by the erroneous notion that the Old Testament, its system of worship, its laws, and its people are superfluous; that the 39 books that come first in the Bible are essentially dead, and have nothing to do with modern worship. Its the same conditioning that would make today’s churchgoer uncomfortable meeting at a seashore for services.

The masses have been indoctrinated for centuries with the false idea that anything occurring before the Book of Matthew has no real significance for True Worship today. Never mind that the Apostles and the Savior Himself quoted from, referred to, and based all their teachings on the Old Testament Scriptures! The New Testament contains 263 direct quotations from the Old Testament.

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Suppose you were given a two-part drama to read. How much would you understand if you were told to skip Part One and start with Part Two?

Without an understanding that the New Testament Assembly has Hebraic roots, that “Christianity” grew out of Judaism, that the promise was given to Israel and still is – without these anchors to stabilize it, nominal worship found itself adrift, being blown about by every teaching and subject to all sorts of doctrinal aberrations.

Without a foundation established on adherence to and teaching of Yahweh’s law embodied in the Ten Commandments, the modern church is powerless to confront today’s lawless, sin-filled world. The religious establishment has effectively tied its own hands.

For the church to condemn society’s murder, stealing, lying, adultery, and other rampant sins would be hypocrisy when the church itself teaches that biblical laws against such are no longer binding on the believer!

In Romans 11 we have a portion of a letter by the champion of nominal worshipers. Paul is often quoted, especially in his Galatians, as supporting a new, “law-less” worship. But notice what he says about our roots:

“For I would not, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be COME IN. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away unrighteousness from Jacob” (Rom. 11:25-26).

He calls it a “mystery,” mustedon in the Greek. It refers to a sacred secret that Yahweh intends to carry out for the purpose of His Kingdom. That secret rests in the duration of Israel’s blindness. To bring it about He sent a deliverer from Zion, not from Athens or Rome.

Paul doesn’t say that Yahweh has a different plan for the church, which would succeed Israel. He says Yahweh has opened a way up for Gentiles to come into essentially the same covenant

promise established with Israel. There is only one covenant today, and that covenant is based on the first covenant made with Israel.

Ignorant of this foundational truth, popular is the idea that everyone is going to their heavenly reward regardless of the life they lived or their worship. Many would be shocked to learn that no human being other than Yahshua has gone to heaven (John 3:13), and that the Kingdom is promised only to those who are of Israel.

Those who take hold of the Israelite promise are grafted in to that promise. That is the substance of what Paul was writing in Romans 9 and 11.

Old Testament Influence

But why has the Old Testament not been accepted as the foundation that it is for proper worship today?

We’ll look at a few practical reasons before we investigate the underlying doctrinal causes.

First is its sheer size. The Old Testament makes up two-thirds of the Bible. As our society becomes increasingly non-reading, the Old Testament with its sometimes ponderous detail will be mysterious to the increasing masses.

Then there is the fact that the Old Testament contains hundreds of difficult place names and characters. It includes long genealogical tables, as well as chapter after chapter of chronology encompassing thousands of years. These self-affirming proofs of its veracity make for rather dull reading for most people.

The time the Old Testament was written is itself remote, as it deals with a people of a much different culture from our own. Besides this, sociologists tell us that we in the West have a Roman-Greek world view, while the Old Testament is couched in Near Eastern thought-forms with many unfamiliar metaphors and idioms in its Hebrew. This difference has hindered a correct grasp of the Old Testament from the beginning.

Another impediment some have to reading the Old Testament is its many wars, violence, slavery, and difficult conditions that Israel faced. Yahweh was establishing a people for Himself in an incorrigible world filled with sin (just like today), and that called for some drastic measures on occasion. All of which makes for some uncomfortable reading for those who cannot grasp the concept of crime and appropriate punishment.

Differences Emphasized

But by far the big reason that the Old Testament is not considered essential today is a doctrinal one. Through the centuries the masses have been preconditioned to reject the Old or original Testament in favor of the New.

For millennia the teachings about Old and New testaments have stressed differences rather than similarities. Contrast and contradiction were played up, while relatedness and parallels were downplayed. As the church became more Grecianized and infused with Platonic thinking, the Old Testament was increasingly seen as a book just for Jews.

Reflected in that attitude was an antiSemitic undertone born of Gnosticism. This brought its own reaction from the Jews, who looked on Gentiles with similar disdain. These widened the gap between Old and New, making the Old Testament the Bible for the Jews and the New Testament the exclusive Scriptures for Christians.

Instead of seeing harmony, the Old Testament today is usually contrasted with the New, such as: The New superseded the Old; the Old is seen as a book of wrath, while the New is a book of grace. The Old is an archaic book of Law, the New a “Gospel” of peace and love.

What the True Worshiper must ask himself, however, is what are the attitudes of Yahshua and the others in the New Testament toward the Old Testament? This seems to be the logical and in fact the only way to go about understanding the proper relationship. Why worry about what some may say? Just go to the source!

Yahshua Taught and Obeyed Law The Savior said in Matthew 5, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil” (Matt. 5:17). These are the words of the Messiah Himself, who said that He did not come to do away with

The Bible teaches only one system of worship.

the Old Testament and its laws. Rather, He came to bring them to their proper realization.

He came to show by His life how Yahweh’s laws are to be lived to produce the complete and righteous individual. How do we fulfill the law under the New Covenant? The same way. Paul tells us in Romans 8:4: “That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”

Yahshua maintained that He did not come to destroy the law or prophets established in the Old Testament, and then in the rest of Matthew chapter 5 goes on to show how the Ten Commandments are to be observed in various applications and circumstances today!

No doubt that through His many teachings that revealed the hypocrisy of the Pharisees in their keeping the letter of the law and completely missing the point of it, people were thinking even back then that He came to abolish Old Testament law.

He says don’t think that! If you do you aren’t getting the gist of what I am saying. You are missing the heart and soul of my message. I’m not saying the law is done away, nor are the writings of the Old Testament. I’m saying look deeper into the reason for lawkeeping. Have the right motives for your obedience and not to display your own righteousness as the Pharisees do.

Notice what Yahshua said in the last part of John 10:35: “If he called them elohim, unto whom the word of Yahweh came, and the Scripture cannot be broken.” The phrase, “the Scriptures cannot be broken” in the Greek means loosened or undone. Those who claim the Old Testament is out of date must realize that there are over 1,600 quotations, references, and allusions linking the Old with the New. The relationship between Old and New testaments is complex and

interwoven — which is obscured when today’s Bibles separate them into two distinct sections.

Without the Old Testament, the New would be virtually impossible to understand correctly.

The original Testament explains: • Creation; • The fall of humanity and our need of a Redeemer; • The concept of grace by the way Yahweh dealt with a sinful Israel; • The concept of love Yahweh showed Israel; • What the covenant is; • What the law is and why it is necessary; • The priesthood, of which our Savior is chief; • Yahshua’s Messiahship and His sacrifice.

The Old Testament constitutes nearly 80 percent of the Bible directly or in shared quotations and references with the New. How can anyone ignore 80 percent of a book and claim to understand it?

It’s time to stop seeing the Old Testament as optional reading and begin to see it as essential to understanding the entire Word of Yahweh. Doing so shows just how far off the mark churchianity has been for the past 2,000 years.

In 2Timothy 3:16 we learn that the Old Testament is inspired, which means breathed by Yahweh. (Latin: inspire = in- into + spirare, to breathe). The Scriptures are literally spoken by Yahweh, “Yahweh breathed.”

“All scripture is given by inspiration of Yahweh, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” Yahweh spoke the words of His book through the Holy Spirit, which served as a conduit to pass them on to the inspired writers of the Bible.

From a Hebrew Heritage

When you read Mark Twain you need some understanding of the times in which he wrote to fully grasp his writings. Try to read Shakespeare or Chaucer only in the context of today’s culture and you’ll miss much of the significance of what is written.

Even more fundamental, however, is the simple fact that we cannot comprehend the New Testament if we sever it from its Old Testament Hebrew roots. You can’t read it through Greek or Latin filters and claim a complete and true understanding.

From the start in Matthew 1 Yahshua’s human side is presented through the line of David. What way of life was He following? Which days did He observe? Which foods did He eat? Which commandments did He follow? The same ones Yahweh gave in the Old Testament. “But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do.”

Yahshua grew up among Jews and followed Hebrew and Jewish custom, practice, and law, both civil and biblical. Understand that He did not chastise the Pharisees and Scribes for their obedience to Old Testament statutes and laws, but for their hypocrisy. He told the people to follow what the Scribes and Pharisees said, but not do what the Pharisees and Scribes did.

“The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat: All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not after their works: for they say, and do not” (Matt. 23:2-3).

When they sat in Moses’ seat they had the authority of Moses to teach the law. They had access to Old Testament teachings, and our Savior is clearly telling the multitude and His disciples to observe what they are told to observe in keeping with Old Testament legislation.

Far from disclaiming the law of the Old Testament, Yahshua the Messiah upheld the keeping of those precepts as showing love for Him and His Father Yahweh. He tells us in John 14:15, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” Naturally it would be the same for us as it was for Him and His followers under the New Covenant.

He adds later that disobedience to what is set forth in the Old Testament is showing dislike for Him and His Father: “He that loves me not keeps not my sayings: and the word which you hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me” (John 14:24).

The Old and New testaments are two parts of the same book. The Old explains the New and the New completes the Old through the fulfillment shown us by our Savior.

The Bible teaches only one system of worship. Nor does it offer many kinds of salvation. There is only one faith: “There is one body, and one Spirit, even as you are called in one hope of your calling; One Master, one faith, one baptism,” Ephesians 4:4-5. Neither is salvation variable.

Both Judaism and Christianity have made themselves mutually exclusive, and because of that both suffer from fundamental error. They need to come together and rid themselves of the falsity that comes with rejecting the Messiah on the one hand and rejecting Yahweh’s laws on the other.

A Parable Speaks

Yahshua said in the parable of Lazarus in Luke 16 that if you do not believe and hence keep the precepts found in the Old Testament, you do not really know Me. It’s as simple as that.

This parable is not about hell fire but about the fact that the gentiles (represented by Lazarus) were rewarded for their fidelity to the truth. The rich man represents Judah in royal garb and with many riches, who kept the promises to themselves.

The striking message of this parable comes to us in the last comment Yahshua makes about it. The rich man wanted Abraham to send Lazarus to his five brothers so they would repent and not be lost. But Yahshua said, “If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead” (Luke 16:31).

If churchianity will not heed the teachings of the Old Testament as given through Moses and the prophets, they cannot be persuaded (much less truly repent) if one came to them (like Yahshua) from the dead. First comes a heart willing to obey. Without that no amount of lip-service will do any good.

The missing link that nominal worship lacks today and why it wanders around in darkness is what connects today’s worshiper to his Old Testament roots. If we understand and follow the precepts of the first covenant, the second covenant with the law in our hearts (Hebrews 8) will be fulfilled and completed.