In many ways, this is probably one of the most critical questions to ask, because there is always a right way and a wrong way of obeying. And the wrong way can cause great spiritual destruction.
Whatever some messianics may say, the spirit of the Old Covenant and the New are very different. And the difference is not just that of deleting some mitzvot (commandments) and adding some others.
I often visit Messianic chat rooms and am horrified by the spirit in them. They are mean-spirited, critical, accusational, legalistic, and in some cases demonic. Without paying any regard to the background of the people they are talking with/attacking, they set up stumbling blocks to the weak (Rom.4:13) and make people offenders for a word (Isa.29:21). By their spirit and attitude they demonstrate that they do not know the Messiah even though they may be conversant with scripture:
"You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life" (John 5:38-41, NKJV).
And remember that "coming to Messiah (Christ)" isn't just accepting the proposition that He is the Saviour or Son of Eloah (God) (for the devils go that far - James 2:19) but it is to be imbued with His LIFE. And I have met a lot of Messianics who have no idea what a life in the Messiah is. It is easy to be religious - to observe certain rules - but it is quite another thing to be walking in eternal life.
To make sure that His followers would understand this new spirit, Yah'shua (Jesus) changed the emphasis by taking all the commandments and summarising them into their core essence. He said:
""The first of all the commandments is: 'Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God (Yahweh Elohim), the LORD (Yahweh) is one. 'And you shall love the LORD your God (Yahweh Elohim) with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.' This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these"" (Mark 12:29-32, NKJV).
What this means, in essence, is that unless you have a genuine heart-love for Eloah (God) and for people, everything else is worthless. If you obey the Ten Commandments but your heart is cold and uncaring - devoid of love - of what use is your observance? None whatsoever. The apostle Paul (Sha'ul) underlined this when he said:
"Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love" (1 Cor.13, NKJV).
Did you know that there are some Messianic Jews who reject the writing of Paul? They are called Ebionites and belong to an old heretical sect. They are not committed to our Bible Canon. We will talk more of them later.
But the point is this: unless your heart has been changed by divine love, Torah-observance is WORTHLESS. But don't misunderstand me - I am not advocating the wishy-washy lawless Protestant heresy which says one must "love" but not obey the commandments. The commandments and our observance (or lack of observance of them) defines the kind of "love" we live. For if another man comes along and says he loves your wife and then goes and sleeps with her in order to "fulfil" that love, how can he be condemned as an adulterer without the Torah which defines what is right and wrong? The truth is that adultery is not love at all. It is naked hatred -- of both Eloah (God), the husband, the wife, and the adulterer.
Which goes to show that there is love and "love" - true love and false love. Love is not just warm feelings. True love is warm feelings channelled down the paths of righteousness. And righteousness is defined by Torah.
A sign that a Christian or a Messianic is a true follower of the Messiah (Christ) is that He will be imitating the pattern that is taught in the New Testament. There is a three-fold system of obedience in the New Testament and the order is critically important:
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- 1. The Two Great Commandments;
- 2. The Ten Commandments;
- 3. The Mitzvot.
