What sets the Church apart from the rest of the world?

[SonWorshipper]

We are called to be set apart from the world, yet I see in mainstream Christianity a very hazy dividing line from the rest of the world. I see many come to these fora and ask "Is it OK for a Christian to do such-and-such?" And then others usually answer, "Oh I don't think G-d has a problem with that, I do that and I'm a Christian ".

Hardly ever do I see them back up their statements with the scripture, the word of G-d. It's more like what they "think" and that can be many times removed from the truth that one finds in the Word.



Who owns this world right now?



Matthew 4
1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.
3 And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.5 Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,
6 And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
7 Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.



As you can see by these scriptures 3 very telling and important things:



1. We don't just live by bread alone (or other things that the world feeds us) but by EVERY word of the L-rd.



2. Don't' tempt G-d by saying what you think He is saying in His word.



3. HaSatan is still the ruler of this world and is looking for worship from any that he can get. If he would be so audacious as to tempt G-d himself then we certainly aren't immune.



We are the Light of the world (those that are born-again and have the Spirit living in them) and we need to show those in darkness that light, not hid it. Matt:5



What does the L-d tell us about the world and how we should live in it?



John 12
25 He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.



John 15
18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.
19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you;





Romans 12
2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.


If we have put off the old and put on the new then we should no longer be walking in the ways of the world:



Ephesians 2:2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:

Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
A WARNING:
Colossians 2:8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.

How many really take this to heart?

James 4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

Some wise words:

1 John 2:
15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

How do you know who you are following?

1 John:
4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
5 They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.
6 We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.


Are you of this world? What separates you and sanctifies you unto the L-rd?

 

[KelsayDL]

We are called to be set apart from the world, yet I see in mainstream Christianity a very hazy dividing line from the rest of the world.

Indeed. Which is one of the MANY reasons I no longer call myself christian.

Literally ALL THINGS are permissable in christianity these days.

There is no set-apartness that I can discern, other than being suddenly transfigured on sunday for a few hours. Some less so they don't miss kick-off.

Genuine believers, yes. But stumbling around in the dark preferring their ears to be tickled rather than crying out for discernment and wisdom.

But I can't really say much. My eyes have been opened, and yet I have not acted. The truth has been revealed to me. The Truth which I sought and cried out for.

Perhaps because I see others who would rather keep *gentile* believers in subjection to their doctrines rather than accepting them as full brethren, and chosen of God, just as they.

So, who am I?

James 1:22-27
22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. 23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: 24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.

I'm in danger of becoming that man. Not that I will return to christianity, because I never will. It is riddled with lies and half truths to me. Though I still must be tied down to it in some regards, because I still fight the thought that I am attempting to deceive myself when looking into this Way, Messianics believe.

The faith suffers because there is no set apartness. We would rather believe a lie as the word says.

 

[SonWorshipper]

Indeed the path is narrow, but to those that find it and look to the L-rd to stay on it, the reward is great! Praise Him for his faithfulness!

 

[Sabian]

Indeed. Which is one of the MANY reasons I no longer call myself christian.

Can I ask if you call yourself Gentile.

 

[SonWorshipper]

Not I, A Messianic Believer in the One True G-d.


Sometimes I feel like the main attraction at the Coliseum, lions circling about 360 degrees!

 

[SonWorshipper]

Funny, the things that set us apart are the same things that the Jews were persecuted by the Roman Christians for centuries ago, What's old is new again!

 

[Shamash Of Yeshua]

The Good News According to Yochanan
4:9 The Samaritan woman therefore said to him, "How is it that you, being a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?" (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)

4:10 Yeshua answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water."

Who is the gift of YHVH? Yeshua the Messiah, the saviour of the world.

4:11 The woman said to him, "Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. From where then have you that living water? 4:12 Are you greater than our father, Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself, as did his children, and his livestock?"

4:13 Yeshua answered her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, 4:14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst again; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life."

4:15 The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water, so that I don't get thirsty, neither come all the way here to draw."

4:16 Yeshua said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come here."

4:17 The woman answered, "I have no husband."

Yeshua said to her, "You said well, 'I have no husband,' 4:18 for you have had five husbands; and he whom you now have is not your husband. This you have said truly."

4:19 The woman said to him, "Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. 4:20 Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship."

4:21 Yeshua said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour comes, when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, will you worship the Father.

Did Yeshua say "will you worship the Messiah"?

4:22 You worship that which you don't know. We worship that which we know; for salvation is from the Jews. 4:23 But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such to be his worshippers. 4:24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."

4:25 The woman said to him, "I know that Messiah comes," (he who is called Anointed One). "When he has come, he will declare to us all things."

4:26 Yeshua said to her, "I am he, the one who speaks to you." 4:27 At this, his disciples came. They marveled that he was speaking with a woman; yet no one said, "What are you looking for?" or, "Why do you speak with her?" 4:28 So the woman left her water pot, and went away into the city, and said to the people, 4:29 "Come, see a man who told me everything that I did. Can this be the Messiah?"

4:30 They went out of the city, and were coming to him. 4:31 In the meanwhile, the disciples urged him, saying, "Rabbi, eat."

4:32 But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you don't know about."

4:33 The disciples therefore said one to another, "Has anyone brought him something to eat?"

4:34 Yeshua said to them, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work. 4:35 Don't you say, 'There are yet four months until the harvest?' Behold, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and look at the fields, that they are white for harvest already. 4:36 He who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit to eternal life; that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. 4:37 For in this the saying is true, 'One sows, and another reaps. 4:38 I sent you to reap that for which you haven't labored. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor." 4:39 From that city many of the Samaritans believed in him because of the word of the woman, who testified, "He told me everything that I did." 4:40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they begged him to stay with them. He stayed there two days. 4:41 Many more believed because of his word. 4:42 They said to the woman, "Now we believe, not because of your speaking; for we have heard for ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Messiah, the Savior of the world."
----------------------------------------------------
So who worships what they don't know? I reckon we all start out as children who don't know anything. Then as we mature in YHVH we learn what we are worshipping and how to worship YHVH. Yet many are blind teachers in this world that are teaching others the blindness they learned themselves. And you know where they will end up, in a corner with no perceivable way to go. At least until their eyes are opened to the truth that is.

Shalom,

Tag

 

[simchat_torah]

the 'church' has nothing to set them apart...

Torah, or the way of holiness, is what makes a people unique.

 

[Oblio]

Indeed. Which is one of the MANY reasons I no longer call myself christian.

Not that I will return to christianity, because I never will. It is riddled with lies and half truths to me. Though I still must be tied down to it in some regards, because I still fight the thought that I am attempting to deceive myself when looking into this Way, Messianics believe.

The faith suffers because there is no set apartness. We would rather believe a lie as the word says.

Do you belive that Christianity is a lie and a half truth ? Is this what all Messianics believe ? Do you hold to the Nicean/Constantinopolitan Creed and/or the Apostles Creed ?

 

[simchat_torah]

Is this what all Messianics believe ?

I know this wasn't directed towards myself, but:
no.

Messianic Judaism is wide and varied.