Do We Need Torah?

Psalm 19:7-11

The law of the LORD is perfect,
   reviving the soul;
the testimony of the LORD is sure,
   making wise the simple;
the precepts of the LORD are right,
   rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the LORD is pure,
   enlightening the eyes;
the fear of the LORD is clean,
   enduring forever;
the rules of the LORD are true,
   and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold,
   even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey
   and drippings of the honeycomb.
Moreover, by them is your servant
   warned;
in keeping them there is great reward.

Of course, not all of the Torah can be applied today: we don’t live in a theocracy, so stoning an adulterer does not apply; we don’t have a Temple or a priesthood, so the sacrificial system is not active; however, whatever we can heed, we ought to.

We are desperately searching for “the program” that will solve our dilemma(s) in the church today. How do we manufacture disciples/servants, not pew-fillers? Why do a majority of our flocks seem not to have latched on to “good news?” I believe the reason is because we have abandoned God’s divine program for life–the Torah. We can stop searching and stop brain-storming; our Creator already designed the program that will yield lives of maximum peace, the most fervent evangelists, the truest disciples–lives that will be light and salt.

And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may be sure that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. 1 John 2:3-6

The Holy Spirit wrote God’s Torah on our hearts; “walking in the Spirit” is a euphemism for walking according to God’s commandments.

God knew we needed the “memorials” or reminders that He built into Torah as a way of life, in order to successfully live a life of holy imitation; abandoning the instructions of the Designer is the ultimate arrogance.

Read Leviticus 23:2-4 and then read Hebrews 10 again. Note particularly verse 25 and tell me if it doesn’t strike you that these ought to be connected. Heb 10:1-18 establish that we have remission of sins by a once for all sacrifice. Verses 19-31 exhort us therefore to keep God’s laws with all diligence, lest we trample on the Grace by which we have been declared guilt-free.

If the Church didn’t start at Pentecost but in Genesis 12:3, and if the Great Commission didn’t originate God’s missional purpose, but Gen 3:15 and does, and if Gen 10 lists all 70 families that comprise all the families of the world as those destined to be blessed via Abraham, then perhaps we ought to re-consider the purpose of the Torah.

There is one standard of righteousness. That is and is described in God’s Torah. In fact, Yeshua is the Torah-incarnate.

When the finger of God wrote God’s Torah on our hearts, He was informing our conscience. How many of you would say that you are so in tune with your conscience that you know without fail whether a certain prompting is from your natural man or from the Spirit of God? If the Torah of God is what defines holiness and we are commanded to be holy, wouldn’t it be prudent to heed the holiness manual?