MANNA FROM MESSIAH
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Pastor Ellen Mumper, Canada
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YOUR IDENTITY
Who are you, really?
Colossians 3:3 says, "For
you are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." Most of us
likely realize that in the experience of being born again, we become a new
creation in Messiah Yeshua. 2
Corinthians 5:17 says "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he
is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become
new." What
does this really mean?
For one thing, we realize of course that
whatever we were in the past as far as our unsaved sin life, is put under the
blood of our Redeeming Messiah. Sha'ul (the apostle Paul) says "And
such were some of you: but you are washed, but ye are sanctified, but you are
justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." (1 Corinthians
6:11) This refers back to the previous verses and the sinflul lifestyles
mentioned in the passage just before: drunkenness, idolatry, fornication,
homosexuality, etc. We do understand
that after repentance we give up those things. At our redemption, our
salvation, the new nature is put into us by the Ruach ha Kodesh (Holy Spirit)
to want stop doing those things we once did and become more like Yeshua. Romans 12:2 pleads with us to be conformed
to His image by the transforming Word of God.
This is accomplished as we read and study and obey the Word in
Scripture, thus transforming our minds. What is in the mind - is what we
become. Indeed Proverbs 23:7 even
states that as a man thinks in his heart, so he is.
It stands to reason then, that we don't
become more like Yeshua by simply believing in Him and going to church services
and praying when we think of it. We
become like Him as we take the Word of God into our very being by reading it,
meditating on it, memorizing it, and letting it transform our actions. It amazes me how many believers think they
can become like Christ without actually picking up their Bibles daily and
reading and applying those holy words.
How else would we know what He is like?
I would like to take this a bit further. What
was He REALLY like? I am very sure He
did not walk around in a soft white robe all the time with long shiny brown
hair and a halo. Our Yeshua was a rugged guy, a Jewish man. He lived the very
Scriptures that He Himself authored. He was The Word / Torah robed in human
flesh. He never violated Scripture and there was not one thing in Scripture
that He put aside as not relevant for believers today.
I submit to you that God only meant to build
one "house", the people of God. Our identity is hid with
Christ/Messiah in God. Ephesians 4 says that there is "ONE body, ONE
Spirit, ONE faith, ONE baptism (being placed into Messiah)" etc. ONE. Romans 11 contains the familiar passage
about our being grafted into the ONE olive tree. I think we can agree that this
ONE tree was Israel. I used to think that when Jewish believers were saved,
they became part of the church. Actually if you say the church is the ecclesia
or kehilat (called out assembly) that is so, but in truth, those who came from
the nations are grafted into Israel.
Here is why I say that. Let's go back to
Ephesians 2. This will really help settle the question of who you are, really,
if you are in Messiah! Ephesians 2:11-
13 says, "Wherefore remember, that you being in time past Gentiles
in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the
Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;
That at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the
commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no
hope, and without God in the world: But
now in Christ Jesus you who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood
of Christ."
So many Christians today tell me "well, I don't have to follow the Old
Testament at all, I am a Gentile Christian." Just a word of explanation here! Gentile means "of the nations" or
"pagan." It doesn't just mean
non-Jewish. The passage quoted above
says that you WERE Gentiles, when you were without Yeshua the Messiah. WERE. So what is your identity now? Those verses continue to say that you were
called Gentile by those in the faith, but now in Messiah you are no longer
called a Gentile. You are made nigh by
His blood and are now partakers of the commonwealth of Israel. One NEW man! Both the
natural olive branches and the wild olive branches are OLIVES, by the way! Both take on the nature of the root - Yeshua.
What does it mean to be partakers of the
"commonwealth of Israel"? The commonwealth
means we share all the promises but also all the challenges, responsibilities
and obligations of the covenant nation of Israel. Granted there are many commandments we cannot
keep because we are not in Israel under a theocracy, we don't have a temple and
cannot do sacrifices. But Israel was
bound to the promises/ Covenant of the Word of God. To follow those meant that they would enjoy
God's blessings and to not follow them put themselves outside of God's
blessings. Which do you want? Sometimes we want all the blessings without
the commandments, but Yeshua said "IF you love Me, keep My
commandments!" By the way keeping His
commandments has NOTHING to do with salvation! It
has to do with being able to see His blessings.
What is our identity? We lose ourselves. It's not about us. It's about Yeshua, our Messiah, to be like
Him. What He wants for us is the same
thing whether we're Jewish born or formerly Gentile. The same promise is given to the church as
was originally given to Israel. 1 Peter
2:9 says "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an
holy nation, a peculiar people; that you should shew forth the praises of him
who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light."
Pastor Ellen Mumper
