Sermon Tone Analysis

Parashah Noaḥ נח

I am not sure I am orthodox in my Judaism but I am definitely orthopedic in my Judaism.

Noaḥ נח

I am not sure I am orthodox in my Judaism but I am definitely orthopedic in my Judaism.

I am not sure I am orthodox in my Judaism but I am definitely orthopedic in my Judaism.

This last week I was talking with a Jewish friend of mine.

We were discussing matters of faith and Jewish life and at one point he turned to me and said, “How Orthodox are you in your Judaism?”

I have been asked this question a lot in the past and I have answered it variously but I felt like I was hit by a moment of inspiration, a new way of answering this question so I said, “You know, I am not quite sure that I am orthodox in my Judaism but I am definitely orthopedic in my Judaism.

I love to walk where God walks.”

Today, from Parashah Noach, we are going to see today the greatest priority of God is that we walk where God walks.

Ha-Foke-Ba

Ha-Foke-Ba

De-Cola-Ba

Ha-Foke-Ba

Ha-Foke-Ba

Mashiach-Ba

Turn-it and Turn-it

Everything you need is in it.

Turn-it and Turn-it

The Messiah is in it.

Review Last week

Last week we started our series of messages through the book of Genesis.

This is a series of messages, rather a study, based on the traditional reading from the Parshiyot (par-shee-OTE) of Genesis each week.

If you are new a parashah is the weekly Torah portion.

The Jewish community divides the Torah is divided into 54 sections (one for each week of a leap year on the Hebrew lunar calendar), and a specific portion, or parashah, is read each week.

Each portion has a Hebrew name.

Ours this week is “Noach.”

And just because we like to throw in a little confusion you can also call the parashah the sidrah (which is Aramaic and not Hebrew).

Last week, we said that all of the book of Genesis is really about this one verse in .

In other words, Genesis is God’s rescue plan for a rebellious people through Abraham’s family.

He enacts this rescue plan even when mankind is in its darkest rebellion, without even asking or seeking it, God shows grace to his rebellious children.

Last week, in Parashah Beresheet, we learned that the creation account is only secondarily about the creation of the universe because it is primarily the answer to a two-part question Israel had in their minds: What went wrong?

And, what is God’s plan of rescue?

What went wrong is that sin changed the image of God into the image of Adam.

To get back to the image of God we would have to destroy the image of Adam.

Yet, no one could ultimately do that except the serpent crusher of .

No one was able to do that 100% until Messiah came.

We saw that Rabbi Paul in

in Parashah Beresheet, w

Messiah, the serpent crusher of , would break the image of Adam by taking a death blow and delivering a death blow.

He would show us that God’s definition of using the Image of God for good is using our authority, power, influence for the sake of others betterment.

We said this is something real, not just an idea or placebo.

This week we are going to touch on an issue that every person at some point in time has wondered.

What is God’s greatest priority for a rebellious world?

A rebellious world where in my lifetime, I have seen the bombing of our embassy in Beirut that killed 63 people, the attack on the World Trade Centers that killed close to 3,000 people from more than 90 countries.

The Oklahoma City Bombing hatched by Timothy McVeigh that killed 168.

The Columbine Shooting, the Shooting in the Movie theatre in Aurora, Colorado.

The massacre in Las Vegas that left 59 dead.

Or the horrible acts of the serial killer who cannibalized 19 children in 2006 in India.

Or the fact that the United States has the distinct dishonor of being #6 of the Highest amounts of rape per year in the world with almost 90,000 reported cases against women each year.

Coming in just under Korea and New Zealand.

There is the horrible rise in the porn industry not just amongst men but also women.

We have not even begun to speak about the problem of morality in our nation or in our world.

That we are so self-deceived.

We are like those who call the dark “light” and the “light” we call dark.

John MacArthur in a brilliant article called, “Whatever Happened to Sin?” Talks about Katherine Power and fugitive from the Law for over 23 years.

IN the 1970s she participated in a Boston Bank robbery in which a city policeman, the father of nine children, was shot in the back and killed.

Pursued by federal authorities for murder, Ms. Power went into hiding.

For fourteen years she was one of the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives.

Finally, in late 1993, she surrendered to authorities.

In a statement she read to the press, Katherine Power characterized her actions in the bank robbery as “naive and unthinking.”

What motivated her to surrender?

“I know that I must answer this accusation from the past, in order to live with full authenticity in the present.”

This was not repentance it was therapy.

Our culture has declared war on guilt.

The very concept is considered medieval, obsolete, unproductive.

People who trouble themselves with feelings of personal guilt are usually referred to therapists, whose task it is to boost their self-image.

No one, after all, is supposed to feel guilty.

Guilt is not conducive to dignity and self-esteem.

Society encourages sin, but it will not tolerate the guilt sin produces.

Every person at some point in time has wondered.

What is God’s greatest priority for a rebellious world?

How you answer this question is important because it either leads you to break free from this world or leads you to embrace this world.

Our world, as evil as it is

Noah’s world, Israel’s world, was no different.

In our Parashah, it says of Noach’s world ()

(Show Graphic).

Three different times in this verse Moses says the earth was “Shachat” in English we say ruined or corrupt.

The word is not an idea it is a word-picture.

When something in Hebrew is Shachat it means that it so badly damaged that it is no longer good for use.

Remember in it says all the land of Egypt was Shachat because, “A massive swarm of flies went into the house of Pharaoh and into his servant’s houses.

All the land of Egypt was ruined because of the swarm of flies.”

and Jeremiah talks about the worthlessness of prideful people and

A massive swarm of flies went into the house of Pharaoh and into his servant’s houses.

All the land of Egypt was ruined because of the swarm of flies.

This was the word-picture Moses had in mind.

20ADONAI did just so.

A massive swarm of flies went into the house of Pharaoh and into his servant’s houses.

All the land of Egypt was ruined because of the swarm of flies.

The whole world had become useless, worth nothing at all.

It was beautiful garden, it was a world that mankind could spread out on and accomplish great things or horrible things.

Mankind chose the latter and not the former.

The world did not care that God’s greatest priority was for them to walk with God.

We have already said that Noach was part of this world but not part of this world.

It said in

That Noach found grace.

He did not earn grace but grace found him.

Because He was grounded in grace, he was walking in obedience.

Noach had a very orthopedic form of Judaism.

Noach understood that God’s greatest priority is that he wants his rebellious children to walk where he walks.