Monday, November 23, 2015

Torah Portion Chayei Sarah - Backwards Beatitudes - November 7

7 Nov 2015  ~  25 Cheshvan 5776
Torah Parashah Chayei Sarah - The life of Sarah
B’re’shiyt 23:1- 25:18 RSTNE p 23
Beatitudes - study from Skip Moen “The Lucky Life - The Backwards Beatitudes”

The Beatitudes - What was Yeshua really saying? - Harbour Light Ministries
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Torah Parashah:
          Avraham just back from Akedah and Sarah has died.
          Avraham purchases the field with the cave of Machpelah in it - for an exorbitant amount of money...  giving all that Ephron asked... so there could be no questions that Avraham owns it.
          Avraham sends his oldest eved (servant) to his people - and his family to get a wife for Yitzchak.
          Servant went to Mesopotamia to the city of Nachor and there finds Rivkah - the daughter of Bethu-El, son of Milcah, the wife of Nachor, Avraham’s brother - and brings her back.  Rivkah is the sister of Lavan (who would become the father of Jacob’s wives).
          The Servant takes Rivkah back to Yitzchak and he makes her his wife.
         
**
          Great information on 15 thingsScripture says about Shabbat.

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Beatitudes....  based on Moen’s book...

{I know the title is “the lucky life” and i know that “luck” is from Lucifer - but we are going to ignore that meaning - and assume that he is coming from something other than lucifer - and had to find something besides “blessed” (you will see why).}

I’ve been studying much about brain physiology and what I believe is the Romans 12:2 “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind” and recentlygot Moen’s book on Beatitudes and something caught my eye... 
he says...

“When life smacks you in the face, when the only kind of luck you have is bad luck, it’s time to change your point of view.”

As with so many things in the Scriptures - we have come from a place of ‘what someone said - or what we were taught’ in another faith - so to speak... and I think we’ve missed much of what Y’shua was saying. 
I know I didn’t understand.  In fact, I asked a lot of questions about this teaching of Y’shua’s for a LONG time.... 


“The beatitudes are not about how to become more virtuous. The Beatitudes are about responding to life as it is.  They are YHWH’s view of what it means to be lucky.”  (again - not blessed)

Many of us have had some challenging times lately and i think we need a better perspective!

Moen goes on to say....
“When life throws you curve balls or hits below the belt, Y’shua says, “Now you are playing in YHWH’s lottery.  Now you are the lucky one.  Jump for joy.  You win.”  
          ( I don’t like lottery either but we are going to ignore that too for the sake of understanding something that is not “blessed”.)

Oswald Chambers, in “My Utmost For His Highest” said...
          “The danger with us is that we want to water down the things that Jesus (Y’shua) says and make them mean something in accordance with common sense;  if it were only common sense, it was not worthwhile for Him to say it.”   !!!!

Moen goes on to say in his introduction:
“When I study these short sentences carefully, when I begin to understand the deeper meanings of the (words) I find something very different than contemporary treatments of the Beatitudes as “religious” blessings.  I find a radical, upside down, backwards thinking about life that says that my usual commonsense view is not even close to what YHWH thinks.

Macarisms = a particular pattern of sayings that come from the first word of each statement in the Greek "makarios."


Mattityahu 5:1-12 p 679

We can read that and decide what we think it means...  as we used to do -

but what if we read it and focus on not just what the original words meant but on what the original audience - the people that heard them first - would have thought about Y’shua’s words!....

The first word of each statement in our text is “Blessed”... but the first word in Greek is “makarios”. 

BUT - as Moen says - “really means something quite different than “blessed”.

The New Testament Greek to Hebrew Dictionary by Jeff Benner says this word makarios, which is G-3107 in Strong’s - is H-835 = aleph shin resh = asheyr = happy - a feeling of joy or satisfaction.

Etymological Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew
aleph shin resh = “being in successful progress”, “walking straight forward”

Moen says - the pattern of these Beatitudes... “Blessed are...” or
“Makarios”....  is important...  “this pattern”  is about “good fortune and release from the worlds’ troubles, either though earthly gains or inner peace and piety.”

“Macarisms offered general advice about living by pointing out those who would receive favorable status in this life.  Macarisms are the Greek equivalent of sayings that describe the paradoxes of life.”

This same pattern is of course - found in the Tanakh  (Old Testament):

Yirmeyahu (Jer) 17:7 “Blessed is the man that trusts in YHWH, and whose trust is in YHWH.”

Tehillim 40:4 “Blessed is that man that makes YHWH his trust,”

“Blessed” is used in English for two different Hebrew words:

          1.  Baruch = “to bless, kneel, salute or greet”  This includes the concept of passing a favor from one person to another, and particularly from YHWH to man.

2.                   Ashrei = ( a noun, not a verb) that describes a persons state of being.  Often used to describe the inner state of a man or an entire nation that enjoys fellowship with YHWH.  It is never used to describe YHWH’s state of being.    This word announces good fortune or congratulations to a man whose inner state is blissful. 

                    “In Hebrew, this is not the result of a “blessing”, a gift granted by someone in authority.  It is the result of actions that i take on my own.  My decisions and behavior determine whether I enjoy inner bliss or not.”

          “This is fundamental to” what Y’shua is talking about in the Beatitudes.
          “...this is not the result of a “blessing”, a gift granted by someone in authority.  It is the result of actions that I take on my own.  My decisions and behavior determine whether I enjoy inner bliss or not.”

          “Y’shua is describing those people whose lives are characterized by an internal bliss, a psychic state that demonstrates contentment and harmony with YHWH”s greater purposes.  These are the people who understand the human dynamic of a relationship with YHWH!  They are not strangers to  YHWH’s will.  They are not pagans.  They are not the “unsaved”.  They enjoy YHWH’s grace because they have some inner qualities that allow YHWH to demonstrate His presence in their lives”

The only problem with Y’shua’s description is - he picks the people who seem to be the LEAST likely candidates for bliss.

Everything about them says that they should be very unhappy.

Common sense tells us that these people are the most miserable of all people... but Y’shua turns this upside down!

So here in this list of things we call the Beatitudes...  things spoken in a sermon on a hill....

Y’shua is explaining who is really joy-filled! 

“He is pointing to those whose lives are candidates for happiness because of WHAT and WHO THEY ARE.  in other words, these people are happy, lucky and even “blessed” because of who they are, not (because) of what they have done.”

This is classic Hebrew instruction... “Unpacking the meaning of simple life situations to demonstrate that something sacred hangs in the balance of every moment” (Abraham Heschel)

“Y’shua announces happiness to exactly those whom the world considers the unhappiest of all.”

Look at the list of things in the Beatitudes:
          poor in ruach
          mourning
          meek
          hunger and thirst after tzedakah
          mercy givers
          pure in heart
          shalom-makers
          those persecuted

Wow...  these are things the world rejects or at least attempts to avoid!!

Y’shua invites us to “think backwards”....

So let’s do that and see what He shows us...

First,
In Mattityahu 5:2 “And He opened His mouth, and taught them, saying...”

Did you ever catch this is an “odd phrase?” 

“He opened his mouth and said...”  is a Hebrew IDIOM.

This is like the structure in the Tanakh in the vocabulary of the prophets and rabbis. 

This isn’t just - “well of course he had to open his mouth to talk”...

          ... This is....Y’shua opened His mouth - but YHWH did the speaking... just like when a prophet from the Tanakh did ....
Or when a prophet of today - hears the words - for the first time - as they come out of their mouth.

Mattityahu 5:3  "'Blessed are the poor in ruach (spirit) for theirs is the malchut ha shamayim (the kingdom of heaven)."


-  “Blessed are the poor in spirit”... that is what we learned... and we had NO idea of what Y’shua was saying!...

When we say or read “blessed”  we think we are going to be given something from YHWH. 

Like we are “entitled”....  somehow “marked as special” -  you know, set apart -  Moen says - what a perfect word for the church to “conveniently reinterpreted to express the granting of a gift or favor.”  “Used effectively, it keeps everyone in the hierarchy in line.”

BUT if “blessed” actually meant “HAPPY”.... that brings no hierarchy..

“Blessing is directional and regulated.
Happiness is dispersed and unregulated”

“What we miss in English is the sense of the statement is PASSIVE.  YHWH is the active agent”

(just like in the covenant making when Avram was in a tardame/ trance!!!)

Moen says...
“The action described in each of the Beatitudes is brought upon these people.  They are the passive recipients of this bliss.  They have won the lottery without even buying a ticket. 

“Blessed are the poor in spirit”

Literally reads:  “Those lucky poor in spirit.” 

If it was really “blessed” the implication would be “they” have to do something to earn it....but they don’t have to do anything to earn it...  they just ARE.  

The state of bliss can’t be earned... it is a GIFT  - just simply a gift. 

and that is how it is for all the Beatitudes!! - a gift!!


“Those happy poor in spirit”

Poor has to Greek words:

          “Penes” = poor person who lives day-to-day on the labor of the day.
         
          Ptochoi = the ones totally bankrupt.  They are NOT surviving. 
          They are dying, right here, right now. 
          They cannot provide for themselves, even a subsistence living. 
          They live lives characterized by one thing - to be without.

          These are the people we don’t want to know about.
          These are the ones we like to ignore or not look at as we pass by.

          Yet, Y’shua said they are the luckiest people alive!!

          But hear this... WE are ptochoi - we are destitute - homeless, totally bankrupt, DYING - without YHWH.

          And those who will not beg, can not receive the kingdom of heaven.

          Those who think that there is something they can DO to receive the kingdom of heaven....  and/or those who think that they DESERVE....

          “Well, I have been a believer, for ____ long.  I have given up many things........  I have earned my spot.”

Nobody deserves.  Nobody can EARN their spot....

Y’shua is saying only those who know they are literally DYING - can have the kingdom of heaven....

People there in that day on the hill actually hearing the voice of the Mashiach... some of them got it.. some of them had ears to hear....

but probably not most people... because most people are not willing to be humble and bend their knees.

Those who are willing to be on their knees - knowing that LIFE ONLY COMES FROM YHWH - and there is NOTHING I can do to earn it...  those people are dancing in JOY - because they are the luckiest people alive.

And what about “the kingdom of heaven”?

What is the relationship between the beggars and the Kingdom of Heaven??!!

“Why should those who apparently have NOTHING except their absolute desperation for YHWH be so happy??”

=“These are the people who look to YHWH for everything, but who also receive from YHWH the gift of the Spirit and the faith to look to Him for everything!!

Those who know they MUST look to YHWH for absolutely everything - including their very lives - are the very reason that the Kingdom of Heaven can come onto the scene. 

“Their destitution, their desperation, their begging for heavenly alms causes the most fundamental shift int he entire history of everything.  The Kingdom arrives.”

The Greek text reads “Makarioi oi ptochoi ot pneumati hoti” = “Happy the poor in spirit because”

“because” / “hoti”  - yields = “because of them the kingdom of YHWH is.”

The kingdom of heaven is “totally dependent on whether or not we submit to this reign as servants to the King.”

“The concept of “kingdom of heaven” contains within it the idea that we are desperately in need.  Citizens of the Kingdom are citizens precisely because they have nothing of their own.” 

“YHWH’s Kingdom is nothing more or less than His miraculous rule arriving for me.  Because I am bankrupt, I am able to receive YHWH’s arrival.”

Only those who get the fact that they are ptochoi in spirit will experience YHWH’s Kingdom.

“Those who discover the joy of the Kingdom are beggars for YHWH.”

Y’shua is saying - “Shout for JOY if you get the idea that you have nothing but YHWH!! - and that is all you need!!” 

This is NOT a blessing!!

It is NOT a reward!

Y’shua is saying that in the “recognition of my spiritual destitution is the sign that YHWH is coming!!”

Halleluyah!
I am lucky b/c I can not make this (my desperation causing this) happen and i can not earn it!

Mattityahu 5:4  “Blessed are they that mourn; for they shall be comforted.”

“The crowds that followed Y’shua were not the noble, well fed, educated or protected.  They were the poor, the lame, the beggars.  They knew sorrow.  Sick bodies, broken hearts.  They knew grief.  Starving children, anguished mothers.  They knew fear.  And they knew death.”

-Y’shua is talking directly to those mourning right now. 
          -The verb is actually present tense.

They are, right now, at this moment, in the midst of grief.

“Listen, says Y’shua, in the center of your anguish is a promise - a promise that you are the lucky one, for something amazing is going to happen. 
YOU WILL BE COMFORTED.”

“Mourning means they have given up their self-delusions about control,power, and protection.  They know that life is fragile, and that they are not in charge.”

They are lucky because “they are no longer able to cope by themselves.”

If we go about in the delusion that we have control - we will not see the Kingdom at hand!!!

This is “the guarantee that no matter what crisis comes upon us, YHWH is here.  YHWH is in control.  Our lives are not adrift on a stormy sea of emotional trauma.  The Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) will stand as our Advocate when we fall.  He will intercede.  All of His unfathomable power, care and love will be ours because YHWH hears our cry.”

“They will be comforted” - is a promise about here and now - not just someday when we are in eternity!!

YHWH is present with me in my miserableness!! 
JUMP for JOY!!  I am lucky - because there is nothing that I can do to earn this!!

Mattityahu 5:5  “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the Land.”

This comes from
Tehillim/Mizmor (Psalm) 37:11 “But the meek shall inherit the earth.”

The Hebrew word for “meek” = anaw.
“This is about one who lives in both internal emotional affliction and external pain and suffering.”

“The afflicted will find protection in His power and grace and they will follow His instructions!”

Y’shua refers to Tehillim (Psalms) because “He wants his audience to know that affliction is not the result of an occupying army or evil men or blind catastrophe.  Affliction is a mark of YHWH’s hand on life.

Y’shua says - “precisely because YHWH is involved in this affliction, you have reason to rejoice!!!”

“You are not simply the victim of happenstance.  YHWH is at work in your life, remolding it to suit His goals.  Life is a fabric of troubles because YHWH uses troubles to shape his Vessels.

YHWH disciplines those he loves.  “The Word teaches us that evil is not ultimately in charge.  Your present affliction has purpose and meaning.  YHWH is working through you.”

Romans 8:28  p 844 “All things work together for the tov to them that love YHWH, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”

What Y’shua is saying is that YHWH can turn evil into a vehicle for His purposes. 

“Evil doesn’t triumph no matter what appearances suggest.”

So rejoice, even in the hard places because YHWH is going to bring GOOD.!

**

Mattityahu 5:6  “Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst after tzedakah:  for they shall be filled.”

Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 55 - “foretold that YHWH would restore Yisra’el where none would go hungry or thirsty.”

Those who are hungry and thirsty are both inwardly and outwardly clearly deficient in things they need for life!

These are the ones who know there must be more - and haven’t found it yet.

“They are the people who are singled out by their own internal, keen awareness of the need for something essential.  They are the ones who know that life is missing something vital, something that can only be supplied by YHWH Himself.  They are the ones who recognize that the elements needed to make life what YHWH intended life to be are painfully absent.  They know something very important.  They know that they cannot provide whatever it is.  They are helpless to rectify this situation.”

Y’shua is saying:
“O, how lucky those of you who know that you cannot provide what you need by yourselves, who know that life is not giving you what you must have, who know that you are dying without what only YHWH can provide.  JUMP FOR JOY!!  Your day has arrived!

Those who “hunger and thirst” - this is right now, present tense... knowing that I am not getting enough and I can’t provide it myself!

Moen says - “Y’shua is the answer” for that hunger and thirsty...
He is “the bread of life” (Yochanan (John) 6:35.)

and HE is...
BUT i believe there is MORE.

This is also about that starvation place where we have been where we know that we know there is more - and have NO IDEA where to find it!....
The ONLY place there is to look is to YHWH!

“When we are starving for YHWH, HE arrives.”

“The only ones who are going to be blessed in this macarism (the lucky ones) are those who have nothing to show for themselves except their need.”

Mattityahu 5:7  “Blessed are the rachamim givers:  for they shall obtain rachamim.”

          This is not conditional.  Y’shua is not saying - if I offer mercy i will get mercy!

          He is saying - “those who are practicing mercy are lucky.”

This mercy is not the courtroom scene and somehow the guilty aren’t given what they deserve...

This rachamim (mercy) is “the act of giving help to one who is in need.”

This is what covenant promise is made of... the stronger one always comes and helps the weaker one. 

“Lucky are those merciful” - he is addressing the one who gives mercy. 
The people Y’shua has in mind are the ones who have been the victims of crimes.  They are the ones who deserve justice.

“People who show mercy have put aside their just reward.”

“It is about giving up my right to justice.  Only those who deserve justice can show mercy because mercy means that the rightful consequence of justice is no longer applied.”

“Mercy produces personal psychological freedom.  I place my right to justice in the hands of YHWH.  Is no longer a weight that i carry.  I am free.  YHWH can do what he wishes with the situation.  It is no longer mine.”

Mattityahu 5:8  “Blessed are the pure in lev:  for they shall see YHWH.”

One of the consistent messages of Y’shua was the “need of the believer to understand that purity does not come from outer observance.”

He literally says:  “Lucky are the cleansed.”

“The distinction between clean and unclean was so important that it was inseparable from the belief in YHWH.”

The religious people of Y’shua’s day (and still today) - worked very hard to be sure the outside of the cup was clean... you know, ... that they did all the rituals...and hoped upon hope that they didn’t miss something....
King David talked about a “pure heart” - in Tehillim 24:3-4

Y’shua is saying - the ones with no guilt are free to SEE YHWH.

Now this must have been a huge problem - because every Hebrew knew that Moshe has asked to see His face...

People have focused on the outside of the cup because it is “much easier to have a checklist rather than a moral inventory.”

In this Beatitude - Y’shua is saying “something even more amazing... that the lucky people are those with clean hearts.”

He stood up and said... “Lucky are those with clean hearts - in a world where every person is dirty.”

This put “the fear of judgment in everyone.”

He was really saying “Lucky those who have experienced the creation of a new, clean heart” - you will see YHWH in your lives”

Most people read this verse and think it means - “some day ...in eternity.”

But it is about seeing YHWH in the now all around us... having “eyes to see”!!!

“Only a man whose life has been made righteous by YHWH (pure in heart) has the eyes to see YHWH’s hand in the world today.”

Mattityahu 5:9  “Blessed are the shalom-makers:  for they shall be called b’nai YHWH.”

“This is not for those who want peace, but for those who MAKE peace.”

“If you are going to be a peacemaker, someone is going to shoot at you.”

“Only those who are presently giving up this hoped-for reality reflect YHWH’s character and YHWH’s peace.

“Everyone wants to experience life where they themselves enjoy peace.  But not the peacemaker.  The peacemaker is one who actually gives up personal harmony and tranquility in order to put himself at risk for the sake of peace.  He stands in harm’s way because he attempts to bring someone else’s conflict to an end. You can’t be a peacemaker without stepping into a war.”

-”Y’shua says Lucky those who give up their peace for the sake of someone else’s peace.”

Matityahu 5:10-11  “Blessed are those who are persecuted for tzedakah’s sake:  for theirs is the malchut ha shamayim.  11  “Blessed are you, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for My sake.”

We have read this - as though there were tortured people in the crowd - and maybe they had been....  but this Beatitude is not about past tense - but present tense....

“Lucky those being persecuted.”

Y’shua is talking to those whose lives are at this very moment characterized by oppression and persecution.    Especially those under accusation.

He “makes it clear that the persecuted are not only those who are beaten and tortured for their proclamation” (Y’shua is Mashiach).  The persecuted are those who have been denied access to YHWH’s grace because of religious legalism.”

Keeping the Instructions /  Torah is not about earning salvation.  “It is about making myself as available as possible so that YHWH might use me for His purposes in any way He chooses - and ultimately it is about living differently so that my demonstration of His instructions becomes an attraction to others.”

“Where ever men insert ANY REQUIREMENT between desperation and grace, persecution occurs.  And the persecutor is ALWAYS GUILTY.”

“If I am desperate for YHWH, many men will attempt to drive me away from Him.  But YHWH answers.  OH, happy day!  How lucky can a man be?!!”

“Y’shua announced that the only condition of salvation was repentance.”

Oh happy day!! 

Mattityahu 5:12  “Gilah, and be in great simcha:  for great is your reward in the shamayim:  for so persecuted they the neviim who were before you.”

***

“The destitute in spirit are the reason YHWH’s kingdom has arrived.”

“Those who grieve are the open doors for YHWH’s comfort to the world.”

“Those afflicted under YHWH’s sovereignty discover YHWH’s promised allotment.”

“Those who are chronically deficient in righteousness are given the righteousness they lack.”

“Those who give up justice discover the basis of their own pardon.”

“Those who have received a clean heart have eyes to see YHWH.”

“Those who relinquish peace discover they reflect YHWH’s character.”

“Those who stand for grace no matter what, call for the Kingdom’s arrival.”

“Each of these points to YHWH’s bedrock values.  They are nothing like the values we prize in this world.  In YHWH’s world the things that matter most are;  desperateness, brokenness affliction, emptiness, losing, insufficiency, sacrifice, perseverance.  These are the values of the new Kingdom.  These are the ways that YHWH conducts His affairs with me.  Insofar as we avoid these values, we turn our backs on YHWH’s ethics.”

“But there is one more paradox.  It is found in the entire collage of adjectives about these “lucky ones”. 

Let’s look again at the results of makarios:

YHWH’s kingdom arrives
YHWH’s comfort reaches us
YHWH’s order prevails
YHWH’s righteousness is provided
YHWH’s pardon is given
YHWH’s hand is seen
YHWH’s peace reigns
YHWH’s instructions are followed.


“Desperate before YHWH
Mourning life’s brokenness
Trusting in YHWH’s sovereign control
Accepting the gift of righteousness
Rejoicing in YHWH’s pardon
Looking for YHWH’s handiwork
Making peace on YHWH’s behalf
Standing for His grace.”

REJOICE, JUMP FOR JOY
YOU ARE A LUCKY ONE!!

Recognize you can’t earn it... it is a gift! 

Rejoice all of you who realize you having nothing without YHWH....  that you are not in control... that the world will not be fair and they will persecute you...

His kingdom can come - because of your willingness to go to HIM on your knees... crying out for cleansing and HIS hand in your life!!

THEN you will SEE HIM.

“Be transformed by the renewing of your mind!!!”

AMEIN and AMEIN.

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