Sermon Tone Analysis

*Abstain*

Ref. 1985

 

*BIBLE READING*: Acts 15:20

 

The Acts 15 passage is crucial to our understanding of exactly how much of the Torah the Gentile must take upon himself.

Very briefly, I'll tell you the "What" and then the "Why" of each point:

 

1.

Abstain from things contaminated by idols.

Why?: The Shema is central to Jewish theology, and last thing that falls from the lips of a Jew at his death.

"Hear Oh Israel the Lord our G-d.

The Lord is ONE!"

If you get everything else wrong in life, don't mess up on this one.

There is only ONE G-d, and He is jealous and He will not tolerate IDOLATRY!

So, the most natural and primary thing to pass on to Gentiles entering into the Body of the Messiah from pagan idolatrous nations is, "Hey, Listen up you nations, Get    this right...

The Lord is ONE!

Not three, not five and not fifty."

Stay away from idolatry.

You are about to enter into a covenant relationship with the G-d of Israel, and you shall be bonded with the commonwealth of Israel.

So if you ever hope to have fellowship with the House of Israel, run the other way from your idolatry."

2.

What: Abstain from Fornication.

Why?: We have a set of family purity laws in the Torah that G-d laid out so that we would take our sexuality seriously.

Much of them are recorded in Viyikra (Leviticus) 15 & 20.

All of these instructions deal with the concept of fornication and define a fornicator as one who fails to keep these instructions.

They include when to have sex with your partner, and when not to, with whom, and without whom, how a woman should dress and how a man should dress, when you clean enough for Temple Service, and when you are not.

All of these    instructions, and more are tied up in the one word "fornication."

The Gentiles are every bit as much responsible to keep these instructions as members of the Body of Messiah, as Jews are, if any fellowship between the two distinct groups can every be shared or assumed on any level of relationship, without causing the Jew to stumble, whether it be a local congregation gathering for prayer, sitting in the same chariot together, or within the context of an intimate relationship between a Jew and a Gentile.

 

3.

What: Abstain from what is strangled.

Why?: In plain Hebrew, this injunction means that Gentiles must eat in accordance with Kashrut (Biblical not rabbinical) if they ever desire to sit down at the same table with a fellow Jewish Believer and share a meal, which was the primary context and excuse under which fellowship would normally occur.

If you take your liberties in this area, you will succeed at nothing but chasing the Jew away from his faith, and declaring, against the council of Elders in Jerusalem, that G-d's    instructions to the Jew (the Torah which he holds dearer than life   itself) are no longer important to him or to the Gentile being    grafted in to the Jewish root.

If the meat has not been slaughtered correctly, or if the meat in any way is treif (unclean), then abstain from it.

This includes crap and shrimp and squid, and ...  and... and...

4. What: Abstain from blood.

Why?: For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one's life -- Vayikra (Leviticus) 17:11).

Say goodbye to your steaks cooked up rare.

Stay away from "juicy" hamburgers cooked in all those red natural juices.

Stay away from the blood.

Jews AND Gentiles are forbidden to eat it.

It is a    testimony to the world that we are different and understand the terms of G-d's redemption.

It also paves the way for fellowship between Jew and Gentile, which before these injunctions, was forbidden in the Torah before Y'shua ratified it and signed its annex in His own blood.

Yes, Acts 15 cannot be played-down or explained away.

It is there for all of us.

Now all we have left is to obey.

Abstain

Of note:

How many believers in Messiah practiced to the letter what is spelled out regarding sexuality, especially the commands regarding separation of men and women during her menstrual cycle.

If people still practice the "separation" today, we would like to know how people actually practice this.

Does the wife go to a hotel or something for a week.

Despite any humour, it is actually a serious question.

They interpret this event through the doctrinal teachings which came from a Catholic church and a Protestant reformation that still has within it doctrines which came into being as a result of departing from the roots of Christianity

 

They read Acts 10 without reading the entire book of Acts

 

So, let me begin to explain.

Yeshua~/Jesus was Jewish.

The disciples of Yeshua~/Jesus were Jewish.

Not only were they Jewish but they were Orthodox Jewish.

It was a belief in the 1st century that when Messiah would come that the non-Jews would begin to embrace Judaism, faith in the G-d of Israel and the Messiah.

However, they also believed that the non-Jew would convert to Judaism according the doctrines of Jewish law as they were in that day.

Peter was an Orthodox Jew.

Today, he would be considered an Ultra Orthodox Jew.

It was taught and Peter practiced the belief that if a non-Jew entered into the house of the Jew that this would endanger the Torah observant Jew of being unclean because the non-Jew would not be following the various laws of ritual cleanliness as would the Torah observant Jews.

Therefore, the belief in the 1st century was:

 

1) When the non-Jews would accept Messiah, they would convert to Judaism

2) A Jew (who practiced ritual cleanliness) should not allow a ritually unclean non-Jew into his house because the habits of the non-Jew could endanger the Jew to become ritually unclean.

With this in mind, let us examine the book of Acts.

In Acts 2, we have the day of Pentecost has arrived.

The feast of Pentecost is a Jewish feast day.

It is called Shavuot.

Acts 2 is NOT the birthday of the Church.

The word church is the Greek word, "Ecclesia".

It is the Strong's Word (1577).

The word "Ecclesia" means "a called out assembly".

In the Thayer's Greek Lexicon, the corresponding Hebrew

word is the word "Kahal".

The word Kahal is the Strong's Number (6951) in the Strong's Hebrew dictionary.

The word "Kahal" is translated as "assembly" or "congregation" in the King James Bible.

But, it could just as easily been translated as "church".

Let's look at Acts 7:37-38 it is written:

 

"This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me, him shall ye hear"

 

This is quoting and referring to Deuteronomy 18:15:

 

"The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me: unto him ye shall hearken" Acts 7:38: "This is he, that was in the CHURCH in the WILDERNESS with the angel which spake to him in the MOUNT SINAI and with our fathers who received the lively oracles to give unto us"

 

This is quoting and referring to Deuteronomy 18:16:

 

"According to all that thou desirest of the Lord thy God in Horeb (MOUNT SINAI) in the DAY of your ASSEMBLY (KAHAL) (CHURCH)..."

 

The time at Mount Sinai is also called the DAY of ASSEMBLY

(CHURCH) in (Deut 9:10 and 10:4).

So, Biblically the birthday of the "church" (KAHAL) or (ASSEMBLY) was at Mount Sinai.

The word (KAHAL) means "a called out assembly of people".

This is the same definition as "ekklesia" or church in Greek.

At Mount Sinai, the Torah was written upon a heart of stone.

In Acts 2, this covenent was RENEWED and was the Torah written upon a heart of flesh (Jer 31:33,  Ezek 36:26-27) so with the indwelling Holy Spirit, God's people could have the POWER to keep His Torah (but not for salvation) but for instruction in living our lives in a way that is pleasing to our Heavenly Father by yielding to the Holy Spirit so that we would not yield our bodies to the evil inclination (the flesh).

In Acts 2, there were 3,000 souls saved.

They were all Jews.

Those present in Acts 2 were Jews from the nations of the earth who came to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast according to G-d's instruction in Deuteronomy 16:16.

In Acts 2:5 it is written:

 

"And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven".

In Acts 10, Cornelious, a centurion (non-Jew) and one who feared the G_d of Israel was given a vision by G-d to see Peter.

In Acts 10:1-3 it is written:

 

"There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornilious, a centurion of the band called the Italian band, a DEVOUT man and one that FEARED GOD with all his house which gave much alms to the people and prayed to God always.

He saw in a VISION ..."

 

In the vision, Cornelious is instructed to go to Peter's house.

Cornelious departed along with two other men.

In Acts 10:5, 7 it is written:

 

"And now send men to Joppa, and call one Simon, whose surname is Peter ...

And when the angel which spake unto Cornilious was departed, he called two of his household servants ..."