Father's Day Talk: 2020

The Father’s Love

A sermon given at Sydney Young Nak Church 
Telopea, NSW
Sunday 7 September (Father’s Day) 2020

          Shalom, to the members of SYNC, to the pastoral staff and volunteers, and those who are investigating the claims of Messiah among us. What a pleasure to return to SYNC as you have kindly welcomed members of our organization over the years.

If you didn’t receive a white card from Jews for Jesus, please receive them just now as the ushers come through the aisle and pass them down each row. Thanks. You can fill that card out anytime during my talk. And if you do, please drop it off to me at the end of the service or mail it in, if you prefer. For those watching online, just google Jews, Jesus, and Australia for our contact form and sign up there. (For those reading this online, just write me (bob@jewsforjesus.org.au) and I will see to our regular information being sent you.)

I appreciate that you have been studying the book of Genesis in your church services lately, and last week you studied Genesis 21, so naturally today you should be studying chapter 22. In that chapter you see Abraham taking Isaac up Mount Moriah. If I were preaching on that passage today, I would mention a father walking his son up to the top of a mountain and offering him to the Lord. But I have another sermon to give on this Father’s Day. I hope it is welcomed deep in your soul.

In less than two weeks, Jewish people all around the globe will be celebrating Rosh Hashanah, that is the Jewish New Year. Unlike other celebrations like we have here in Sydney with fireworks and drunkenness, Jewish New Year begins with serious concerns about sin and repentance, and long sessions of prayer.

Concerning sin, the teachings of the Bible are clear. The 10 Commandments and seemingly every prophet arranges lists of Jewish mistakes so that we have plenty for which to repent every New Year.

Take Jeremiah, for example. He chides Judah for all their boasting, their confidence in their building by which they are safeguarded and warns them to amend their ways. He lists our sins, one by one, and sometimes repeats them, until we finally might actually acknowledge our sinfulness and repent. 

Jeremiah says, “if you truly practice justice (meaning we were practicing injustice) between a man and his neighbour,  if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, nor walk after other gods to your own ruin” (7.5-6)
And again
“Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery and swear falsely, and offer sacrifices to Baal and walk after other gods that you have not known?  Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers in your sight? Behold, I, even I, have seen it,” declares the Lord. “And now, because you have done all these things,” declares the Lord, “and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you did not hear, and I called you but you did not answer” (9-13)

Jeremiah is not only chiding; he's derailing us from our thinking we are a-ok. What will be the result? Dispersion and the ruin of the Temple, “as he did at Shiloh.” (verse 14) From where does this sinful activity come? It boils down to a misunderstanding and disobedience to the First commandment. What is that First commandment? Love God, and Him only. “I am the Lord thy God who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” It’s barely a commandment at all; just an appeal to know Him. 

Often our response to God’s conviction of our sins is something we could call Reformation or Rehabilitation. We will make it right with God. We will fix our own lives. We will pray more. We will fast twice a week. We will rise early and make food for our neighbours. We will donate to charity. Honest, Lord, we’ll do better next week. 

Now, don’t get me wrong. I think repair is great. I think restitution is often right with people. But rehab and doubling down on our efforts of religion is never going to impress the Almighty. Our righteous deeds are like filthy menstrual rags in his sight. We can never out-maneuver and out-religion God. He knows our hearts. He sees our insides. He understands our motives, way better than we do, and certainly more than our closest friends.

Listen to Jeremiah’s next lines: “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat flesh. For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. But this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you will be My people.” (21-23)

The point is this: be personal with the Living God. Listen to Him. Love Him. Hear Him. Be real. Be His person. Your religious chatter and your pretend devotion stink in His nostrils. Idolatry, the replacing of the Lord with anything less than Him, whether the Queen of Heaven, and getting dysphoric about God, or championing the rights of those who oppose Him, is entirely worthy of judgments.

Neither the false ideas and proclamations in the ‘safe haven’ of the Temple, nor the afternoon picnic to the Queen of heaven can safeguard the Jewish people. Just two decades later, we were taken captive by the Babylonians and God’s judgment fell on us severely. We had leaders who calmed us with words that predate, but channel Neville Chamberlain, but are nothing of real healing. We had teachers who taught of their own initiative but didn’t really bring us the powerful words of the Almighty. And we did nothing. We spread out bones and saw death all around us but didn’t turn to Him.

Dear friends, this is what the Lord wants us to understand today. A relationship with Him, in the Messiah Yeshua. That began for me about 49 years ago and I remember it like yesterday. All my good deeds, my mitzvahs were fine, but in terms of gaining God’s approval, as if those were enough to bring in God’s amazement and satisfaction, is laughable. What had to happen? I had to acknowledge my own sin, not only my sins. Let me explain. Sins are the deeds I commit against God or people. Lying, cheating, hating, etc. Sin is the inner fault in my heart that actually makes me do those misdeeds. In other words, I commit sins because I have sin. Sin is the attitude; sins are the actions. I am not a sinner because I sin. I sin because I am a sinner.

What does the Newer Testament say about this subject? I want to read two portions and show you a famous painting from Rembrandt. The two portions are taken from the Gospels, one in Matthew and one in Luke. Both equally famous. And significant for Torah-considering people. In Matthew, Yeshua is teaching His disciples and the crowds about the Kingdom in what later will be titled the “Sermon on the Mount.” 

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, You who practice lawlessness.’ (Matthew 7.21-23)

Who casts out demons in the name of Yeshua? Believers in the New Covenant. Who prophesy in the name of Yeshua? Teachers of the Bible. Who perform miracles in the name of our master? Great preachers and TV Bible thumpers. And to them he says, “Depart!” What? This is horrible. If they don’t get into heaven, how can I get in? It’s as if there is no guarantee. 

The Judeans in Jeremiah’s day counted on the presence of the Temple as their safe haven; some people in modern days are counting on their religion of Jesus-proclamation to save them. By that I mean, their quiet times and their fasting and their other religious activities are something they would highlight if questioned about their faith.

But 600 BCE and today God’s answer is still the same, “I never knew you…. Because you do not know Me!” Obedience is fine, as long as it’s honest and personal and real. And one more thing. As long as you are not counting your mitzvahs as ENOUGH to get you God’s approval. That’s the rub. 

Listen to what the disapproved people said, “Did we not prophesy? Did we not cast out? Did we not do miracles?” Every one of their punch list of approval considerations were things they did. All good to be sure. BUT if you are seeking to be in God’s pleasure, then you have to RECEIVE what God has done, God’s kindness and stop trying to earn it. It’s a gift. No wonder He said, “I never knew you, (and I add) because you do not know Me.” Maybe we should go back to the most basic of beginnings in the story of the Prodigal Father and see what this really means.

Luke 15 features three short stories of lost things, and the joy in finding them. First is a sheep that is lost and the owner searches diligently, leaving the 99 others in the flock, and finally finds the missing one, and there is rejoicing. I get that. Like searching for my keys just yesterday.

The chapter continues with the story of the lost coin, and again the long search and finally the finding. And again rejoicing. Each story ends with this tag line: Luke 15.10 “In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Then comes the story I want to focus on today. And the painting by Rembrandt. The story is the Prodigal Son or lost son who leaves his father and family and lives riotously, squandering his entire inheritance, and wakes up in a pig pen. He realizes his life is in ruin, and he decides to change, to amend his ways, and to go back to his father. You have heard this titled the Prodigal Son. But friends, prodigal means lavish, not wayward. And the son and the father were both prodigal in my understanding.

This image by the famed artist Rembrandt is worthy of deep appreciation. 

It’s a simple and rather basic painting, with five men and dark shadows. That’s it, really. So it’s an artistic study of the people. There is barely any other reference point. No scenery… no landscape… no fruit bowls… no animals. Just five men, like a basketball team. 

Look closely at the image, though and the light shines brightest on the two on the left and the furthest to the right. 

My friend Amer Olsen works in New York City and is an artist by training. I asked him to tell me what he saw in the painting here of the Return of the Prodigal and he wrote me a long description, parts of which I relate to you here. 

“Visually, the strongest light in the picture falls directly on the location of the returned, received son - his back, the father’s face and hands - falling onto the ground around them, though the son’s face is turned toward the shadow. But the son’s face isn’t so much turning from the light, as it is being enveloped by the father’s figure, resting in his bosom. In fact, when you look closely at the son’s face it looks surpassingly serene and beatific. This is in great contrast to his tattered rags, worn sandals and calloused feet - even his shorn head reminds me of a slave or forced-labour victim. Also, the son’s face is the centre point, not of the dimensions of the canvas, but of the vanishing lines of perspective (only hinted at by the two steps to the bottom right), which is the artist’s way of saying: “This is where I want your eyes to be drawn. This is where the heart of the message is.”

Do you know the whole story? It’s complete at the end of the sermon here in the notes. Please read the whole thing. Back in those days, fathers didn’t run to meet their sons. They didn’t run at all! Running was undignified. But in this story the father runs. Nothing else mattered to the father. 

The father seemed to take everything in stride, even the negative attitude of the older brother. So many stories we could discuss; so many trails to follow.

The emphasis is clear. The father has run back to welcome his returning son. The son has no pretense of good works. He falls on the mercy of his father. The father has no consideration of the son’s waywardness; he only is seeking reconciliation and restoration of the relationship. The son doesn’t say, “I have done great things in your name.” The son doesn’t even say a word of self-honor. He actually says, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

The father only welcomes the son. At the beginning of the story, the son says, “Father, give me my inheritance.” That phrase is shocking. He is saying, “Dad, I wish you were dead.” Remember, a person only receives an inheritance when someone dies. And the father gives him the 1/3 of the estate. (The older brother would receive double for caretaking purposes.) The father prodigally extends a third of the estate to his younger son, whom he knows will live wrongly. At the end, the son practices his lines in the pig pen by saying, “Dad, make me as one of your servants.” In the beginning the son said, “Dad, give me.” In the end, he said, “Dad, make me.” That’s the essence of the son’s change. It’s not about himself; it’s about the father. 

I grew up an Orthodox Jew, practicing my religion with great dignity, and shame in my failures. I went beyond my family’s commitment to their practices and when I was 16 years old, I began to seek God through that effort, but to no avail. Only when I threw myself on the mercy of the Almighty, found in Yeshua, the Messiah, my salvation, did I ever come to know Him. I am the lost son, the kneeling one, tattered shoes and cropped hair, the loser, the failed, the needy—that’s how I come to God. And that’s how God wants us all to come to Him. 

Not on the basis of all the good things we do and should continue to do for others. But on the basis of God's awesome love. The Father’s awesome love. We are the lost ones. Fall on His mercy and ask, in fact, beg, to be forgiven and brought into His family. Let His arms wrap around you.

Jeremiah says, “Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,” declares the Lord. (9.23-24)

So will you do this just now? Will you confess Yeshua as your messiah and Lord? Will you turn to Him in faith and ask God to make you into the man or woman you should be? Will you acknowledge that without Him, you have no hope for eternal life? Yeshua died for you. He died to restore you to the Father. Hopeless mankind, in a pig pen, separated from the Almighty, now has a single method of real restoration—the death of Messiah, to bring us back into relationship with Daddy, with our Father in heaven. 

Then we will hear Him say, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.” In other words, he one who knows me will enter. And again, “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ Matt. 25.23

The ministry of Jews for Jesus is about getting people to hear and understand the good news of eternal life in Jesus. We have a book shop in Bondi; we meet with Jewish people online and in their homes, in their offices and in coffee shops throughout the country, in fact, throughout the world, to teach them about Jesus, and God’s good love. Your prayers matter a lot to us. Your financial support, like you give to the missionaries in Cambodia and even here in Sydney, will help us reach Jewish people. 

If you’d like to donate, use this Square up the back (online use this link:  www.jewsforjesus.org.au/giving), as a tap-and-go device. We also have products you might want to purchase like books and other items. Stop at the back table after the service, if you’d like to donate or buy anything. Please fill out that white card and turn that in also, so that you will continue to hear more about our mission among the Jewish people. Many of them are listening; pray that they keep opening to the Gospel. Thanks.

In our sermon today we learned that the joy of your master is eternal life. Let’s go there!

Have a great September and stay Covid-safe in the Lord. Shalom.

 

Bible Verses:

Exodus 20.2 “I am the Lord thy God who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.”

-------------------

Jer. 7:1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, ² “Stand in the gate of the LORD’S house and proclaim there this word and say, ‘Hear the word of the LORD, all you of Judah, who enter by these gates to worship the LORD!’” ³ Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, “Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place. ⁴ “Do not trust in deceptive words, saying, ‘¹This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD.’ ⁵ “For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly practice justice between a man and his neighbor, ⁶ if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, nor walk after other gods to your own ruin, ⁷ then I will let you dwell in this place, in the ^band that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.

 

Jer. 7:8 “Behold, you are trusting in deceptive words to no avail. ⁹ Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery and swear falsely, and offer sacrifices to Baal and walk after other gods that you have not known, ¹⁰ then come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are delivered!’ — that you may do all these abominations? ¹¹ “Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers in your sight? Behold, I, even I, have seen it,” declares the LORD.

Jer. 7:12 But go now to My place which was in Shiloh, where I made My name dwell at the first, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel. ¹³ And now, because you have done all these things,” declares the LORD, “and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you did not hear, and I called you but you did not answer, ¹⁴ therefore, I will do to the house which is called by My name, in which you trust, and to the place which I gave you and your fathers, as I did to Shiloh. ¹⁵ I will cast you out of My sight, as I have cast out all your brothers, all the offspring of Ephraim.

Jer. 7:21   Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat flesh. ²² For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. ²³ But this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you will be My people; and you will walk in all the way which I command you, that it may be well with you.’”

 

Matthew 7.21-23 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, You who practice lawlessness.’ 

 

Jeremiah 9.23-24 “Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,” declares the Lord.

 

Luke 15:11   And He said, “A man had two sons. ¹² “The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me.’ So he divided his wealth between them. ¹³ “And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country, and there he squandered his estate with loose living. ¹⁴ “Now when he had spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that country, and he began to be impoverished. ¹⁵ “So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. ¹⁶ “And he would have gladly filled his stomach with the pods that the swine were eating, and no one was giving anything to him. ¹⁷ “But when he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger! ¹⁸ ‘I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and ¹in your sight; ¹⁹ I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men.”’ ²⁰ “So he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him,and ran and ^2aembraced him and kissed him. ²¹ “And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ ²² “But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet; ²³ and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; ²⁴ for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.’ And they began to celebrate.

 

Luke 15:25 “Now his older son was in the field, and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. ²⁶ “And he summoned one of the servants and began inquiring what these things could be. ²⁷ “And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has received him back safe and sound.’ ²⁸ “But he became angry and was not willing to go in; and his father came out and began pleading with him. ²⁹ “But he answered and said to his father, ‘Look! For so many years I have been serving you and I have never ¹neglected a command of yours; and yet you have never given me a young goat, so that I might celebrate with my friends; ³⁰ but when this son of yours came, who has devoured your wealth with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.’ ³¹ “And he said to him, ‘Son, you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours. ³² ‘But we had to celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live and was lost and has been found.’”

Matthew 25.23 “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful. You were faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’”

Father's Day Sermon: Penitential Prayers and Promised Messiah

Prayers of repentance and God’s answers:
A study in Daniel 9

Given by Bob Mendelsohn
Father’s Day: 3 September 2017
LCM Churches, Lane Cove, NSW

Salutation
Thank you Darren, and all the staff, and all the volunteers who make LCM such a great place in Lane Cove, among His people on the North Shore. Thank you for welcoming me again this morning to teach in our congregation’s series on the book of Daniel. I’ve been assigned chapter nine, and I’m grateful to share this with you.[Online folks, the entire text is at the bottom of this blog]

Introduction
In a couple weeks on 20 September, Jewish people worldwide will pray penitential prayers, confessing sins and entering into what is known as the Ten Days of Awe or Ten Days of Repentance with serious considerations of sin. This might make sense to you, here at Lane Cove, that Jewish people should do that, but some of you might know that most Jewish people don’t think much about sin, that is, throughout the year. We give ourselves to good works, to charity, to benefiting the world, but not to our own measure or level of holiness. Sin is a Christian issue, most would aver, but not one with which we have to deal. But this season speaks differently and certainly today’s reading in Daniel 9 screams loudly that this is not the case. In this passage we’ve just heard read it is clear. [If you are listening online, please pause this talk just now and read the whole 27 verses, then come back to hearing what we are saying. Thank you.]

Daniel, as you have been learning here at church, is a noble, great character, the kind of guy you want to have at youth group. The kind of man you want to work with you in the next office. He’s the kind of person you want in your home group. He knew when to speak and when to be silent. He knew that God was able to do amazing things, and yet, even if He didn’t, Daniel was going to trust Him.

So in today’s reading we see Daniel taking on board the sins of the Jewish people so as to bring them to the Almighty and for Him to deal with them in His timing. And we see God’s promise of a Messiah to come, to be the hero/Savior we need to deliver us from the very issues Daniel is confessing.

I. OBSERVATION OF THE TIMES
Before we look at Daniel’s lengthy prayer and God’s answer, let’s note what prompts it. Babylon is now ruled by a king of Median birth, as Jeremiah had promised (51:28). The punishment that Jeremiah threatened (25:12–14) has begun. The restoration of the exiles (Jer 29:10), and the restoration of Jerusalem that Isaiah and Ezekiel promised, ought therefore to be imminent. Thus we can imagine an exilic Daniel noting the passages in Jeremiah 25-29 that spoke of a seventy–year exile and wondering about their fulfilment; Zechariah, after all, did so.

What prompts Daniel’s prayer is observing the situation. When King David raised an army, people came from throughout the land to sign up. Of note were “the sons of Issachar, who were men who understood the times, with knowledge of what Israel should do.” (1 Chronicles 12.32) These were people who listened to their prophets and saw the signs of the times. Listen, to make changes, you have to know when change is required. Alarms might be annoying to you when you hear one outside your home, but you can be sure that the alarm is designed to assist, not to annoy. Someone is being burgled, or a smoke alarm notifies us of imminent danger with fire or such. A red light on your car’s dashboard may bother you, but be sure to get to the servo sooner rather than later to see to the problem. Alarms signal problems. Only the foolish dismiss such alarms.

II. PREPARATION FOR PRAYER
That God has spoken through the prophets (Amos 3.7) does not mean that all the believer needs to do today is sit, Fin Review and ABC radio at hand, awaiting the outcomes. The appropriate response to prophecy is prayer. And before Daniel goes to the Temple to pray, before he sends out an email and shows on Instagram his bent knees, he readies himself. He drops everything. He cancels his appointments. He wakes early. And the book says, he ‘gave my attention’ but the Hebrew says he “gave his face” to the Lord. That means he got serious about things. Nothing else mattered. He turned off the TV. Face to face, he stood before God. Five things were used: prayers, supplications, fasting, sackcloth and ashes. Physical reminders of significance. And conversation with the God of the universe. Daniel had seen the signs; he knew the 70 years were up. The kingdom had changed, Darius was now king, the Medes ruled. Now he moves to prayer. And it’s a serious preparation of prayer that begins.

I don’t know how you pray. Some close their eyes. Some bow their heads or bend their knees. Some sing. They say, “He who sings, prays twice.” Whatever you do to pray, getting into a new position, or into a new chair, lighting a candle or wearing special accoutrements …whatever you can do to prepare, do it. Knowing that the bent knee doesn’t impress God. The scent of the candle does not notify Him that He needs to turn and listen more closely. All of the preparation is for us, for our ‘giving our face’ to the Lord. His hand is not so short that it cannot save; nor is His ear too dull that he cannot hear. Our prayerfulness is about our rigorous honesty with Him.

III. PRAYERS FOR SELF/ FOR THE PEOPLE
This set of confessional prayers in chapter nine of Daniel are similar to the Selichot, the penitential prayers said on the Saturday night before Rosh Hashanah in the modern Jewish religion, that will be the 16th September this year. Most Jewish gatherings, certainly prayer meetings, happen in the daytime, but the Selichot prayers are offered around midnight. They are prayers and responses, sometimes sung in chorus, or merely uttered by individuals to get God’s attention, to remind Him to be merciful, to remind ourselves that we have sinned. The Hebrew word, “Selichot” means “sorries” and the root of that word is used in our text today at least two times.

The Midrash relates that King David was anguished when he foresaw the destruction of the Holy Temple hundreds of years in the future, along with the cessation of the offering of the sacrifices. “How will the Jews atone for their sins?” he wondered.

G‑d replied: “When suffering will befall the Jews because of their sins, they should gather before Me in complete unity. Together they shall confess their sins and recite the order of the Selichot, and I will answer their prayers.”

That’s how the rabbis dealt with their losses, and the obvious problem of the lack of blood sacrifices. I appreciate their challenge and their conclusion, but their answer is dead wrong. We do have to look at current settings and make determinations about our lives and our religion. To be sure. Daniel certainly did just that as he observed the times.

The answer to the situation of our losses, however, is not to commend ourselves. We have no good works in ourselves, we admit on Rosh Hashanah. So why do we count our prayers as ‘good enough?’ In verse 18, Daniel says, “we are not presenting our supplications before You on account of any merits of our own, but on account of Your great compassion.“ The only way to be sure of God’s answers is not to commend ourselves. Israel (and dare I say Sydney Anglicans) has never been worthy of high praise from heaven. Every prophet in the Bible has nailed our people again and again with words of rebuke, our disregard of the Almighty, our failure to live justly in the land or outside the land. Our sins are ever before Him. What can we do? Perform good deeds? As if that would be enough?

Look, if you kill a guy and go to court, saying in your defense that you will do better next time, that’s a good resolve but the issue is the murder, not the future goodness you might demonstrate.

Our prayers of repentance bring God’s answer, if we are counting on His compassion. Even our prayers are not enough; God alone is our salvation.

a. Prayer begins with Praise
Daniel prayed for himself, he prayed for Israel, he prayed that God would exalt Himself in our midst. In verse 4 Daniel starts with prayer the way prayer should always begin, “God, you are…” Prayer begins with acknowledging who God is. Nehemiah began his prayer with the same words. (9.13) Joel uses this same phrase. (2.13) These are the words of God to Moses in Exodus 34 “Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth.” (v. 6) Even Jonah prayed this prayer with anger, saying something like, ‘God, I knew you were like this…that’s why I didn’t want you to send me to Nineveh…’ (4.2-3) Prayer begins with preparations of self and then in verbiage with praise for who God is. Tell God who He is. It’s a reminder to ourselves; it’s a reminder to the Almighty.

b. Prayer of intercession continues with confession of sins
Verse 5: We have sinned.

Who sinned? Daniel said, “we have.” In reality, they have. But owning our national or civic or family sins.. that’s the mark of a saint. Corporate identification by a man of God for the people of God. This is a mark of humility which was evidenced in his sackcloth and ashes prep work. These are the words of a man who wants the work of God in his own days. And the list of sins is comprehensive.

We have sinned, committed iniquity, acted wickedly and rebelled, even turning aside from Your commandments and ordinances. Moreover, we have not listened” …unfaithful deeds which they have committed against You. Open shame belongs to us.” so the curse has been poured out on us.

As a result of all this sin, shame, even open shame is ours by right. By the way, “open” is the word for ‘face’ again. Shame in our face. Shame on our face, like a cream pie in an old sight gag, but this time, it’s mud and grime, and wickedness all over us. This, Daniel says, is the curse which has been poured out on us. We cannot hide it.

Prayer began with situational setting, then moved into praise and then confession of sins.
Daniel litanizes God’s righteousness and His right to do whatever He wants. He has declared His will in His word, so, Daniel alleges, please be consistent as you have been. And in the midst of this massive confessional, again Daniel reminds both himself and God that “To the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness”

This is consistent with God in the Scriptures, he says. in
v. 11: oath which is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, for we have sinned against Him.;
v. 12: He has confirmed His words which He had spoken against us and against our rulers who ruled us
v. 13 As it is written in the law of Moses, all this calamity has come on us.”

c. Intercession required identification.
For truly intercessional prayers, the identification with the people is required of the intercessor. It’s not a “God bless those guys” type of prayer. It’s a God, help us! The use of the first person plural is uncomfortable for some. It is for me. When I see people sinning, what does that have to do with me? But the corporate nature of our community, of our nation, of our country, of Israel.. it’s not to be missed. The Enlightenment and our tall fences outside our houses made us think we were islands, all alone, but the reality is that we are in this thing together.

How many times do you share what you believe with people and they answer you with “I don’t need church. I can pray on my own at home.” And to be fair, that has a good amount of truth in it. But what they don’t see is that we together are the church, and each of us is merely a blade in the lawn of grass, which when a larger foot comes along to trample us, will succeed if we are not joined together in the community. We need one another. We support each other. We hold each other accountable. And when it’s time for prayer, it’s not private. It’s corporate. That’s why we say, “Our Father” and not “My Father who art in heaven.” “Give us this day our daily bread.” Get it?

So when Daniel prays about Israel’s sins, he lists himself as a member of the needy community. We have sinned. We have failed. We are wrong. God have mercy.

Verse 20, he confesses his own sins, and the sins of Israel. That’s honorable. That’s how this intercession works.

IV. GABRIEL SHOWS UP: PROMISES MESSIAH
The final section of chapter nine may well be said to be God’s answer to Daniel’s prayers. By the way, many rabbis won’t let their students read the end of this chapter until they are 30 years old. You will see why in a moment. The chapter ends with a description of some more messianic credentials.

As this angel explains, there are some numbers, or years, some famous personages and events, and some radical fixes that are going to take place.

The problems Daniel talked of in his prayer are going to be met with a divine answer. Even as Isaiah has said, “The Lord Himself” will do something. Here we see three things that will hallmark the answer to Daniel’s prayers.

1) Messiah will die The death of Messiah was startling to me to read about in 1971. I had been raised an Orthodox Jew in the US, in Kansas City. There I learned about Messiah and about our religion. But I never knew Messiah would have pain and suffering in his own life. I knew we Jews were to suffer, and by that we would bring good to the world. I knew Messiah would conquer evil, but that he would suffer and die? Totally new to me.

Had I read the sources I would have learned that Rashi, the famous medieval rabbi, one of the top 5 rabbis of all times, taught Messiah would die and his son or grandson would take over. In 1994 a rabbi died in New York. Not surprising, since there are 2 million Jewish people who live in the environs of that great city. But this rabbi, Menachem Schneerson was different. Some had touted him to be the messiah. Some to this day continue to say that about him.

When he died that summer of 1994, tens of thousands of Jews gathered from around the world there in New York City to honour him but beyond that, to await his imminent resurrection. The rabbis teach that the spirit of a man hovers over a corpse for three days, but on the fourth day it departs. The rabbis and those who claimed Schneerson, The Rebbe, was the messiah were not surprised by his passing. But after he didn’t rise from the dead by the fourth day, they left his gravesite. Verse 26 says “Messiah will be cut off.” Cut off from what? Like Isaiah said, “cut off from the land of the living.” In other words, He would die.

2) Messiah will die in a certain timeframe
The business of the calculations of the 70 weeks, or 62 weeks, or the 7 weeks, is all a bit confusing. Let me tell you this, there is no agreement among scholars on this one. But looking at the events of verses 25 and 26, there seems to be some marking that might help. Verse 25 says the time clock can begin ticking when you “know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah”. OK, when was this decree? Under Artaxerxes in the year 444 BCE. That’s when the permission was given to the Jewish people to go back and fix the Temple and the City.

And in verse 26 we read the end marker of the time period, “the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the City and the Sanctuary” and we even know what sanctuary we are addressing, from verse 24 “to anoint the Most Holy Place” (kodesh k’doshim). The ending is the destruction of the most holy place for Jewish people (obviously the Temple) and the City (Jerusalem) which will take place in 70 CE.

Looking at those two markers and using ‘weeks’ to mean ‘years” which would be consistent with Daniel’s use the 70 years and the use of a variant of the Hebrew word for ‘weeks’ anyway, then after 483 years between 444 BCE and ending by 70 CE, the Messiah had to die. However we calculate this, and in this book by Moishe Rosen, this prophecy is unpacked in a mere 3 pages with great clarity, we know Messiah will die during what you and I and historians and archaeologists call “The Second Temple period.” And with the weight on the weeks in the end, Messiah will die in what we call “The First Century.” No wonder so many rabbis won’t let their students read this passage until later on in life.

3) Messiah’s death will bring atonement
Finally we get to the purpose of Messiah’s death. It says in verse 24 to “finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness.” The purpose of the death of Messiah is to answer the prayers of Daniel, to fix what is broken in our world. He will heal all the brokenness of lives, of families, of governments. He will put an end to wars and vanities. He will make the wolf lie down with the lamb. He will restore all that is broken in our lives. And set up His Kingdom once and for all. The Forever Father’s Day will be seen as we read last week, “One like a Son of Man was coming, and He came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him. And to Him was given dominion, glory and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations and men of every language might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away; And His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed. (7.13-14)

What a day of rejoicing that will be!
What Jesus did in dying for us on the cross, in the First Century, exactly 483 years after the edict to restore Jerusalem, brought victory and salvation, in answer to Daniel’s prayers, in answer to Isaiah’s prayers, and to Hannah’s prayers. Now here’s even better news for most of you-- it’s not only for Jewish people. Messiah died in fulfilment of prophecy. What Jesus did was to bring in a dominion which is “for all the peoples, nations, and men of every language” Even Kiwis. Even Brits. Even those who barrack for the Hawthorn Hawks. Even all you Gentiles.

The scandal of God’s redemption for all people was never hidden from view in the Scriptures, but dismissed by many throughout time. I missed it. Most of my Jewish people miss it. Don’t you miss it. The Word is for all peoples. For your neighbours. For your friends. For those you don’t like.

Let us bring them the Good Word of the Lord. Let everyone hear. Messiah has come; Messiah died. He rose again. He lives today. And Messiah will come again in glory. Hallelujah, what a Saviour!

What other lessons do we learn for our lives today from Daniel 9?
First, see the situation, whatever that is, at work, at home, in your personal life. Evaluate it on the basis of Scripture, and your own heart. Be honest. Rigorously honest.

Then, Intercede as the situation demands, for others, include yourself, of course, but widen it, to include your community, your church, your family.

Wait for God’s answer, for it will surely come, maybe not as quickly as you request, but be confident, that’s what faith requires.

Finally, celebrate the God who answers in His time. He is worthy of all praise. He has done all things necessary to receive such accolades.

I’m happy to be part of this family of faith for the last 19 years. Patty and I along with our kids moved here in August 1998, and it’s been a good innings. We are honoured to be part of your financial considerations as well, as some of you have been giving to Jews for Jesus for a while, and others are invited to do so today, using that white card, or the tap and go credit card machine I have in the back at the resource table. [If you are listening online, you can give to Jews for Jesus on PayPal or on our website, ]

Please fill out that white card; please extend to us the privilege to share with you again as a result of that filling out the card. So many Jewish people are listening, at our book shop, in their homes, around the globe, in Berlin, Jerusalem, on the streets of Budapest right now, and here in Australia.
Thanks for your prayers for us.
Thanks for interceding for us and along with us, for the Jewish people, during Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and throughout our days, until Messiah returns.
What a day of rejoicing that will be.

Shalom.
For those online, if you want to join us for Rosh Hashanah in Bondi Junction, register here using “Free ticket” button. We are happy to host you. Thursday 21 September. 11 a.m.


Text of Daniel 9 for those without it:
Dan. 9.1 ¶ In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of Median descent, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans —
Dan. 9.2 in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, observed in the books the number of the years which was revealed as the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet for the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years.
Dan. 9.3 So I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.
Dan. 9.4 And I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed and said, “Alas, O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments,
Dan. 9.5 we have sinned, committed iniquity, acted wickedly, and b rebelled, even turning aside from Thy commandments and ordinances.
Dan. 9.6 “Moreover, we have not listened to Thy servants the prophets, who spoke in Thy name to our kings, our princes, our fathers, and all the people of the land.
Dan. 9.7 “Righteousness belongs to Thee, O Lord, but to us open shame, as it is this day — to the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and all Israel, those who are nearby and those who are far away in all the countries to which Thou hast driven them, because of their unfaithful deeds which they have committed against Thee.
Dan. 9.8 “Open shame belongs to us, O Lord, to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, because we have sinned against Thee.
Dan. 9.9 “To the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness, 1for we have rebelled against Him;
Dan. 9.10 nor have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in His 1teachings which He set before us through His servants the prophets.
Dan. 9.11 “Indeed all Israel has transgressed Thy law and turned aside, not obeying Thy voice; so the curse has been poured out on us, along with the oath which is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, for we have sinned against Him.
Dan. 9.12 “Thus He has confirmed His words which He had spoken against us and against our rulers who ruled us, to bring on us great calamity; for under the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what was done to Jerusalem.
Dan. 9.13 “As it is written in the law of Moses, all this calamity has come on us; yet we have not sought the favor of the Lord our God by turning from our iniquity and giving attention to Thy truth.
Dan. 9.14 “Therefore, the Lord has kept the calamity in store and brought it on us; for the Lord our God is righteous with respect to all His deeds which He has done, but we have not obeyed His voice.
Dan. 9.15 “And now, O Lord our God, who hast brought Thy people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and hast made a name for Thyself, as it is this day — we have sinned, we have been wicked.
Dan. 9.16 “O Lord, in accordance with all Thy righteous acts, let now Thine anger and Thy wrath turn away from Thy city Jerusalem, Thy holy mountain; for because of our sins and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Thy people have become a reproach to all those around us.
Dan. 9.17 “So now, our God, listen to the prayer of Thy servant and to his supplications, and for Thy sake, O Lord, let Thy face shine on Thy desolate sanctuary.
Dan. 9.18 “O my God, incline Thine ear and hear! Open Thine eyes and see our desolations and the city which is called by Thy name; for we are not presenting our supplications before Thee on account of any merits of our own, but on account of Thy great compassion.
Dan. 9.19 “O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and take action! For Thine own sake, O my God, do not delay, because Thy city and Thy people are called by Thy name.”
Dan. 9.20 ¶ Now while I was speaking and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God in behalf of the holy mountain of my God,
Dan. 9.21 while I was still speaking in prayer, then the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision previously, came to me in my extreme weariness about the time of the evening offering.
Dan. 9.22 And he gave me instruction and talked with me, and said, “O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you insight with understanding.
Dan. 9.23 “At the beginning of your supplications the command was issued, and I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed; so give heed to the message and gain understanding of the vision.
Dan. 9.24 ¶ “Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy place.
Dan. 9.25 “So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress.
Dan. 9.26 “Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined.
Dan. 9.27 “And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.”

Services announced

Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are very different holidays, rather appointments, in the Jewish calendar. Plan to join us, in Bondi Junction, this year for two very different meetings.

Thursday 21 September for prayers, teaching, singing and luncheon. Bring food to share with others. The shofar will blast.

Friday 29 September for prayers, teaching, singing and no food. Don't bring food. Bring a humble heart to hear what G-d is saying to you at this time of life, your life, His life, the state of the world, even your world. The shofar will blast again.

Invite others, and come along. You won't be disappointed.

Amazing grace: Being edited

Many of us Jewish people spent hours and hours the last couple weeks dealing with personal issues, repenting of sins committed, and asking God and others to forgive us. We anticipated that God, who set up these High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, would be somewhat vested in being there on the other end of the long phone call to Him.

There was talk about judgment and about eternity; there was consideration of repairing the breach and making things right. It was deep, emotional, considerate. And all the while, many in the row in front of us or behind us, or who never even darkened the doorway to enter the synagogue, seemed to be less inclined to dig deep and ponder what was hitting us so deeply. Should they be so sure that their prayers or thoughts were heard by the very busy Almighty? What is their take-away from all this religious activity?

I saw this above image of the editing erasure on another blog yesterday. It struck me personally. When I talk to God, in prayer, asking for forgiveness, is my sin really erased? Did He just edit the history of my life? Or will I have to carry this around with me for weeks, months, forever? I wonder, does the Scripture have anything to say to me, or is it even trustworthy as a psychological advisory book?

If I listen to sensible and powerful voices in history, I would be well advised, even if I knock back the Bible. Gandhi says that the strong are the forgivers. My impression is that God is Strong, so He must want to forgive.

On Google, I found this one, "If God didn't forgive sinners, heaven would be empty." That's especially clear. And powerful to ponder. After all, Alexander Pope wrote, "to err is human, to forgive, divine." Well, I'm human and very capable and very erring. So I'm especially glad for God's forgiveness. Or shall I expect it after all?

So let's look at a couple citations from that mysterious book of life, the Tenach, and see what it might say.
"The priest shall also make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering before the LORD for his sin which he has committed, and the sin which he has committed will be forgiven him." (Leviticus 19.22) "Nislach lo" is the Hebrew. It will be forgiven him. Wow, just like that. A forgiveness because of some animal substitute, a forgiveness which knows the satisfaction of the judicial system. A forgiveness granted, and (perhaps) received.

Later in Torah Moses commands the priests to pray this prayer, "Forgive Your people Israel whom You have redeemed, O LORD, and do not place the guilt of innocent blood in the midst of Your people Israel.’ And the bloodguiltiness shall be forgiven them. So you shall remove the guilt of innocent blood from your midst, when you do what is right in the eyes of the LORD."(Deuteronomy 21.8-9) Someone has to pray; someone has to intercede; someone has to do right.

King David well knew his own nature of loving God and yet failing Him miserably. We read His personal comfort with this from Psalm 32. "How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered!" And Isaiah the prophet was convinced of his own sins, his own wrong talking, lashon hara, and found God's grace. He reported it as follows: "He touched my mouth with a burning coal and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven.” (6.7)

It takes an agent of forgiveness, a bloody sacrifice, a mediator, and humility to make this all 'work.' Maybe that's why Jewish people like me are fascinated by and eventually succumb to the amazing grace of God revealed in His Messiah, Yeshua. He has done it all for us. We enter by faith into that reality, and we find real peace.

No wonder Rabbi Saul of Tarsus (some call him the Apostle Paul) said this, "Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Messiah also has forgiven you." (Ephesians 4.32) We learn forgiveness from the One who forgave us. We treat others as we have been treated.

Being edited makes sense, then. And grace is truly amazing when you experience that. Will you do so just now? Receive God's love in Yeshua, and ask Him to forgive you. That is His desire. He did it all for you.

New Year thoughts 5776

New Year thoughts
Given in Waverley
1 Tishri 5776
14 September 2015

Shana tovah to each of you today. I trust the calendar’s reminder of our holiday today will bring you what you long for in life, in purpose and in knowing the Almighty that much more. Asylum seekers from Syria, Jarryd Hayne, Shemitah and starting a new life…that’s what we are talking about today. You see, it’s both Rosh Hashanah and Yom Teruah, a day of blowing of shofars, a day to begin the holiest and most significant 10 days in the modern Jewish calendar. And the moderns aren’t too far from the spirit of the Bible in this case.

A bit of biblical history and perspective
You see, the Bible lists 7 times, really three seasons of dates, in which He has set up an appointment to meet with the Jewish people. Those are Passover with three dates then, Pentecost 7 weeks later, and finally this season, which moderns title the High Holidays, which culminate in the festival of Tabernacles or Sukkot. Those 7 appointments or appointed times (moedim in Hebrew) were so important that God spends much ink and time with those in the record of Torah and throughout Jewish history.

Of course, we usually gather with family and friends during Passover for a Seder or two, and we might notice the Shavuot celebration with a blintz or piece of cheesecake, but Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur? They get very special attention. Even Sukkot takes a back seat to these two appointments. Why is that? I suppose it is all about the next holiday Yom Kippur and the requisite honor, respect, and fear, which it honestly engenders. If we don’t get it right; if we fail to repent well or fail to live in just the right way, then we are not guaranteed another year in the system. If that be so (and I’m not so sure this hypothesis is true, that it’s all up to us at all anyway), then we must get this holiday today, Rosh Hashanah, right. In other words, starting well gets us to a good ending. Starting poorly leads…well, to places we don’t want to go.

Asylum seekers
So what do asylum seekers and refugees have to do with Rosh Hashanah? The Salvos report, “There are an estimated 42.5 million people displaced by persecution and conflict in the world. This breaks down to 15.2 million refugees, 26.4 million internally displaced persons (people who remain displaced by conflict within their own homelands) and 895,000 asylum seekers.” The UN lists higher statistics.

UN stats England’s The Guardian reports, “There are currently more than 250,000 unprocessed asylum applications. ... Germany has an ageing population and one of the lowest birthrates in the world.”
Syria, Russia, Iraq, Afghanistan…the numbers are staggering. “During the year (end in June), conflict and persecution forced an average of 42,500 persons per day to leave their homes and seek protection elsewhere, either within the borders of their countries or in other countries.

Developing countries host over 86% of the world’s refugees, compared to 70% ten years ago.”
What do these people want? When do they want it? They want freedom. They want a new life. They want the bombs and the machine guns and the terror to stop. And they have heard that this is available in America or Germany or Turkey (which hosts more of these displaced people than any other country worldwide), and they uproot their families to get this freedom. They walk miles and days. They suffer loss. We only have to remember the final scene of “Fiddler on the Roof” and we will have heartache on their behalf. As Tevye and the rabbi say final farewells, and the question is posed to the rabbi, “Wouldn’t this be a good time for the Messiah to come?” The rabbi answers with “We’ll have to wait for Him, somewhere else.”

If you have been reading or watching the news of late, hear the plight, see the photos, imagine the smells and pains of each scene ‘over there’ and don’t have a tinge of compassion and aching in your heart, you need to check in with heaven and get some right there. Those people could be our people and although Australia’s promise to welcome another 12,000 beginning in December is wonderful, amidst the millions, what are 12,000?

Jarryd Hayne and the Jews
This morning is Monday in Australia and concurrent with our service is the playing of American gridiron. It’s the first weekend of the season over there in the professional ranks. Fortunately for new Aussie fans of the sport, Jarryd’s team, the San Francisco 49ers, will be playing in the US on Monday night (tomorrow morning for us here) and thus we have no conflict at all. Jarryd, as some of you will know, is an Aussie, and the former Origin and Parramatta Eels star fullback, is giving a US gridiron career a shot this year. We don’t know if he will play in the season opener against the Minnesota Vikings, but his first appearance will have commensurate hype and hopes for all Aussie sports fans. His Twitter feed has been active with well-wishers and his own comments about this new career step he is taking. We only wish him the best.

A couple months ago, Jarryd got in trouble with the Jewish community over some comments he made on Twitter during the Hillsong conference which he attended. [ Accusation here, [ Apology here ] and My blog about it all then ]

Jarryd made it clear that he intended no harm and his clarification was way faster than Hillary Rodham Clinton’s apology about her email scandal. I think Jarryd would use today, Yom Teruah, as a day to make things right with all people, and as a believer himself, to make things right with God, too. We wish him only the best in his new career, although New South Wales could have really used his skills in Origin three this year.

Shemitah
Maybe you heard the entire buzz about this shemitah business. Maybe you have bought books, sent out email and tweet warnings about selling off your stocks and bonds investments, as the world is about to experience another 7-year cycle downturn. There is much Internet noise about the year of Jubilee and although some are very sure, and filled with prophetic heraldry, not everyone is on board with their conclusions.

For instance, Chabad, the keepers (by their own raised hands) of all things Jewish say this, “As mentioned above (not all the Jewish tribes represented), though, today the Jubilee year is neither designated nor observed.

And now for the answer to your question: “When is the next Jubilee year?”
We eagerly await the day when G‑d will bring our entire nation back to our homeland—including the ten “lost” tribes—and we will again resume observing the Jubilee year, as well as so many other mitzvot which we are incapable of performing until that awaited day.
Rabbi Baruch S. Davidson “
[Davidson's comments ]

How are you going to start/ resolution?
With those three issues in the news in mind, and with our own clothing, tunes and prayers today reminding us that we are making today special, what is it about new life that we really want today? I performed a Google search online to find out how others are recommending starting new lives. That included quotes from Lao Tzu, the founder of Taoism, (“When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.”) and JK Rowling (Another quoted her “When J.K. Rowling said, ‘Rock bottom is the solid foundation on which I built my life,’ she hit the nail on the head. Sometimes you gotta sink down to the depths to find the energy to skyrocket back up.”) and about 500 unnamed or unknown others who have other recommendations on starting over. Funny to me was how many references there are online to forging a new identity altogether, and basically going walk-about with papers.

But this idea of starting over is a huge concern in relationships and in botany and in the birth cycle and such. How do we actually begin new life?

Religion tells us many things, and our prayers this morning highlight some of those. For instance, “Avinu malkeinu Chaneinu va’aneinu, Ki ein banu ma’asim. Asei imanu Ts’daka vachesed V’hoshienu.”
We have no good works in ourselves. Save us.

What about this confessional prayer from today’s liturgy “Master of all worlds! It is not on account of our own righteousness that we offer our supplications before Thee, but on account of thy great compassion. … What is our goodness? What is our virtue? What our help? What our strength? …What can we say to you, Lord our God and God of our fathers? Indeed all the heroes are as nothing in thy sight, the men of renown as though they never existed. The wise as though they were without knowledge, the intelligent as though they lacked insight. Most of their actions are worthless in thy sight. Their entire life is a fleeting breath. Man is not far above beast, for all is vanity.”

That doesn’t sound like a start over, does it?

Did you hear how many of our prayers today highlighted the royal King of Kings? So many began with the word Melech or King in English. Why? Because during these 10 days we call on Him who is above all to make things right, to judge righteously, and to cause to bring on the earth His will, even in our feeble lives.

We remind ourselves of His sovereignty in prayers and song, and in the round challahs we eat. In the cycle of life in the apples and honey. Much of what we eat is round today, as the challah which tells us of the crown of the King. God will be judge and we will be found wanting.

“Wait, wait just one minute,” you say. “How is that going to help us start over and get new life?”

How does this work?
The Bible makes it clear that in order to start over, we have to end the previous section. We have to die in order to be born again. We have to bury a seed before it can die and break forth to bring up a new plant. Starting over actually requires the death of the previous thing.

Note how the Apostle Paul records this in his letter to the believers in Rome. “We were buried with Yeshua by baptism into death, in order that, just as messiah was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:4)

The Apostle Rabbi Shaul says that in order for the believers there to experience newness of life, they have to undergo a burial of sorts. He uses the image of the baptism or mikveh. That makes sense to me.

Each Friday when I was practicing Orthodox Judaism in my late teenage years, I would attend to the mikveh, the ceremonial pool in the synagogue, where I would ritually bathe. I would ready each week to meet my Sabbath queen, and be clean. I remember the rabbi telling me once that I had to remove all the filth of the week from me so that I could start over with a clean slate. I really liked that imagery.

I guess it’s the removal of dirt in the mikveh, and in the expanded version, removal of sin and its commensurate death in the waters of baptism, that Rabbi Shaul had in mind when he calls the Romans to walk in newness of life. Once the old is removed, the new is free to live. And we are free to experience the newness of life when sin is removed. So how does that work for you? You have to admit your sins and your sin nature. You have to agree with God that you are a sinner, that you need His grace and forgiveness. Then you can be ushered into His kingdom and grace.

Preventions
Sometimes people are prevented from experiencing this reality. Even the best of people fail in this sometimes. Let me explain a couple ways we miss it.

As a Jewish person, we often consider three things to be religiously valid at this time of year: repentance, prayer and good works or charity. T’shuvah, t’filah and ts’daka. Fair enough. Those are all good things and I call us to practice them faithfully. But that said, when we call on God, and ask Him to forgive us on the basis of our good works, we are not really asking for grace at all. We are actually asking Him to reward us with our paycheck in heavenly terms of forgiveness. We earn things. We merit salvation that way. It’s as if God is not a Forgiver or a Generous One, but rather that He is seen as a formal heavenly accountant who counts our good efforts over against our bad efforts and says, “Yup, column A exceeds column B and thus you can be forgiven.”

But that’s not even close to the biblical understanding of forgiveness and grace. Grace is favor extended to us without merit. It is not to be taken lightly, to be sure, but it’s not a reward for good behavior. It’s favor. It’s unearned. It’s not a benefit you deserve. It’s God’s kindness based on His love and the mercy He shows those who believe in Him. And in His Son Yeshua.

Because of what Yeshua did, in dying for us on the cross, as a korban, as a sacrifice, all our sins are washed away. His blood accomplishes what no human effort ever could, the forgiveness of all humanity, one by one, whoever believes in the Divine Sacrifice of Yeshua Hamashiach. What an awesome gift! What a sacrifice! What love!

So what prevents our new life living? One of two things. 1) Trusting in our own righteousness as if it can merit and earn God’s favor or 2) dismissing the whole thing as irrelevant and treating God as if He didn’t exist at all. Good luck with that one. If you dismiss God, don’t be surprised when He dismisses you. And that’s not going to leave you in new life at all, but rather in same-old-same-old. I don’t wish that on anyone.

Final thoughts
God is good and awesome and King and worthy of all our love and attention today and every day. One of my favorite authors and Bible thinkers is a Scottish man from 100 years ago. His name is Oswald Chambers. In his book, My Utmost for His Highest, in the page labeled 13 September I read this yesterday:
“Surrender is not the surrender of the external life, but of the will; when that is done, all is done. There are very few crises in life; the great crisis is the surrender of the will. God never crushes a man's will into surrender; He never beseeches him, He waits until the man yields up his will to Him. That battle never needs to be re-fought. Surrender for Deliverance. "Come unto Me and I will give you rest." It is after we have begun to experience what salvation means that we surrender our wills to Yeshua for rest. Whatever is perplexing heart or mind is a call to the will - "Come unto Me." It is a voluntary coming.

Surrender for Devotion. "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself." The surrender here is of my self to Messiah Yeshua, my self with His rest at the heart of it. "If you would be My disciple, give up your right to yourself to Me." Then the remainder of the life is nothing but the manifestation of this surrender. When once the surrender has taken place we never need "suppose" anything. We do not need to care what our circumstances are, Yeshua is amply sufficient.

Surrender for Death. John 21:18-19. ". . . another shall gird thee." Have you learned what it means to be bound for death? Beware of a surrender which you make to God in an ecstasy; you are apt to take it back again. It is a question of being united with Yeshua in His death until nothing ever appeals to you that did not appeal to Him.

After surrender - what? The whole of the life after surrender is an aspiration for unbroken communion with God.” Do those thoughts bring you to Him?

Do you choose to surrender to Him just now?

If so, please write me online or here in the sanctuary, let me know that. Raise your hand or talk to me in a few moments and say, “I’ve just surrendered to Messiah. Now what do I do?” And we will find a group with whom you can walk this out.

You are like those refugees seeking new life. You are like Jarryd Hayne trying to find a new team with whom to share victory. You are nearing a culmination of emptiness in the 7-past-years. But now you are making it right. You are not alone. This can be a real new year for you. With challot and t’filot and with songs a-plenty, and with eternal newness of life in your heart.

What joy! What strength! What victory! Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift. Amen!

5776, but for you 5195

The new year is approaching. On 13 September, as the sun sets, Jewish people worldwide will begin the celebration of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. There are many styles and many family traditions which are maintained, and even some resist the establishment of same, as a tradition. How will we make it happen? What will we do? What will you do to honour/ celebrate/ notice the Jewish new year as it begins Sunday night?

On this email from an ultra-Orthodox community in Safed Israel, they highlight three things to guarantee a good mark from the schoolmaster in heaven. The three are repentance, prayer and good works of charity. This triad was established in 90 CE by the Jewish leadership in Yavneh (Jamnia) at the Council there. 20 years before that historic gathering, the Jewish Temple was destroyed by the Romans under Titus. The leadership had to determine what we would do to secure forgiveness of sins which for a millennium had been assured in the Temple rites and ceremonies. So under Bohanan ben Zaikai, the leaders determined that three things were necessary: t'shuva, t'filah, and ts'daka.

But are those really enough to guarantee anyone of the forgiveness that the Almighty wants to give us? Why do we have to perform anything at all, since it's His will to cleanse us from sin?

Do we really need a discount (...but for you 5195)? Reading Leviticus in Torah helps us understand the machinery of the Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) realities. There was a great cost. Jewish people sinning wasn't God's plan. We had to make things right. And to accomplish that 'right' setting, we had to bring offerings, we needed a mediator, we needed to pass our sins into a goat or two and get right with the Almighty.

All that to say that in Yeshua, we are now able to have such forgiveness. All that is written in many other blogs before this one, but I want to use this blog to wish all my Jewish friends, family and enemies a very sweet New Year 5776, and to find eternity in Him before it's too late. He loves us. He wants us to know Him. Personally.

May your fast be easy and may you know assuredly that your name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life.

Reunions and Rosh Hashanah: Appointments

I had never attended a reunion of my high school until the 40th which took place in 2009. Many people seemed to know each other; I'd been gone so long. Would anyone remember me? Of course, I'm a fairly social creature, evidenced in continual internet blogs and photo journal on Flickr and Facebook, twitter and such. But those are merely evidence of who I am in person as well. I rather enjoy being with people and meeting new folks and keeping up with former friends.

So it seemed natural to want to gather with the people from 40 years ago. I was not disappointed. And the great thing about being so many decades away from high school was that most of the memories from then were foggy at best. That means that people didn't remember what they wrote about me in my yearbook, or that they didn't even remember if we took a class together at all. Excellent! As a result of attending, I found some 'new' friendships or renewed ones, and have kept those going for the last five years.

Then when our 45th was announced a year or so ago, I was happy to go along, even though it's 9,000 miles away. Many said, "You win the prize for coming the furthest.' That's always a nice feature of living in Australia. But when I queried, "What is the prize?" no one seemed to have anything in mind. Maybe on the 50th, I'll ask for one to be made. Watch, that year, someone will come from further.

So what is it about reunions that either make people want to attend or to have no interest? What is it about remembering or reuning or ... that makes us withdraw or convene? This is a sociological question to be sure. And that's the point of this blog. I really would like some answers. And maybe you have been pondering that one as well.

Of course, personality types pop up immediately into the conversation. ESFP (The performer)or ESTP (The dynamo) ENFP (the champion) INFJ (the counselor) come to mind. And there are others, too.

One of my favorite personality descriptions is not from Myers-Briggs (as above), but by Gary Smalley and John Trent, both psychologists in the US. They wrote about this back in the early 1990s in their book The Blessing. Here's a quick overview Blessing   I can see each person at the reunions.The otter (backslapper) and the golden retriever (who sits with one or two people all night) carry on differently, but they carry on and attend. What is it that prevents some people from attending?

I spoke with two of my mates in KC, both of whom are very personable and affable. Neither has any interest in joining in. One said, "I've lived in KC the whole time since we left school, and I have no relationship with any of those people. Maybe if X came or Y came, I would go, but really no one there would know me." I told him that's a great advantage. They won't remember what they don't or didn't like about you, but he didn't hear that. The other man said he would try to attend, but didn't make it. It certainly was not on his priority list. Both of these men are single. Both have had relationships in the past, but are alone now.

 I'm hoping to get a big response from people on this one. 

What causes you to want to attend? What causes you to want to stay away? What do you think about those who do?

I'm writing this blog on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year. Surprisingly, it's never called that in the Bible. In Torah, the 5th of 7 Jewish appointments with the Almighty is entitled, "Day of Blowing of shofars." In Hebrew Yom Teruah. By custom and convention it has taken on different meanings than what was defined in the book of Leviticus. The new year is actually supposed to be in Northern springtime, just before Passover. Most people call these Jewish 'festivals' or 'feasts.' And many of the holidays certainly fit that category. But Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) doesn't seem festive at all. The biblical term is 'mo'ed' and really means 'appointment.' It's a time of reunion with the Lord and with His people. It's an expectation from the mandate in Scripture for us to convene. Not that we are to convene with each other, but to gather to Him.

Most imagine that to mean 'attend synagogue' but it doesn't always imply that. The issue though for me is that whatever it is that draws some people to attend reunions probably also draws some people to synagogue (or church for that matter).

Someone should write a survey, and maybe I'll do that, but I'm hoping that many of my old classmates will weigh in on this and their answers will help us write a survey which might actually help us draw even more people to our 50th. We only have 5 years to plan that one. What do you think? Why did you go? Why would you never go? What is it about reunions which are compelling or offputting? Can you sort it out just now for us? Will you? Thanks!