Process of Becoming
September 1, 2024Pastor Josh Starnes presented today's message, "Process of Becoming." Here's a video of the message.
My first extraneous thought during this message was to remember my parents always saying, "Enjoy the now!" It struck me that we should probably enjoy all the moments along the way of Becoming like Jesus. But I digress (right off the bat)...
My big question spurred by this message was, "what does the Torah (or Old Testament generally) want us to become, if anything?"
Right off the bat, God makes us "in His image" (Genesis 1:26). That strikes me as a pretty clear indication of where we're going. I think from the very beginning God wants us to behave like He does, reflect His ways, be like God. We were "set apart" (sanctified, Hebrew qadash, קָדַשׁ) at the get go to move away from the profane to the holy.
It's quite clear in the Torah (and throughout the Old Testament) that God wants us to be good. In fact, you may want to read one of the Bonuses on this site: What Does God Want Most of Us? Hint: to be good persons. Basically, all the rest of scripture is getting at how to do that.
I'd like to suggest that we can look at the Torah/OT as a "fence along The Way" to becoming like Jesus.
Let me explain. There's a term in Judaism from rabbinic writings, "fence around the law." It's used to describe a situation where there's much debate about exactly what a law means, so, the law is "extended out" to where there is no ambiguity. Judaism has built many fences around the laws of kashrut (kosher). For example, "not mixing dairy and meat" was a fence around a very simple law not to boil a kid in its mother's milk (Exodus 23:19). To be even safer, the law was extended out to not eating milk and meat together. Then, not to eat milk and meat within so-many hours of each other. Then, separate dishes for each. All of these extensions were "fences around the law" to keep one from getting even close to breaking the original law.
So, I think we could consider the "old laws" (Torah/OT teachings) to be a fence along the path to becoming like Jesus. Call them guard rails, if you will, while we're trying to figure out what it means to be like Jesus. Stay within the guard rails of Old Testament instruction as you find your way along this path, and you'll stay close to the right trajectory. To put this in the negative, if you're ignoring/breaking OT teachings, you're probably not on the right path to becoming like Jesus. You know, stealing, murdering, coveting, mistreating others, etc.; not on the path to becoming like Jesus.
Bonus
Cleanliness is Next to Godliness
That title/quote is not found in the Bible, but the concept is in there. Deuteronomy 23:12-14 (in a Christian Bible), "As part of your equipment have something to dig with, and when you relieve yourself, dig a hole and cover up your excrement. For the Lord your God moves about in your camp to protect you and to deliver your enemies to you. Your camp must be holy, so that he will not see among you anything indecent and turn away from you." As Prager points out, cleanliness is not solely a health matter. There's a holiness component as well.
Moreover, keeping ourselves clean moves us away from the animal world and toward the godly.
Bonus2
Great Strides Toward Ending Slavery
The Torah took unique and great strides toward ending slavery (which was more like indentured servitude for the Israelites). Again, as Prager points out (Rational Bible: Deuteronomy, pp. 369-370), had the United States observed these laws, slavery would not have been possible in America.
Deuteronomy 23:15-16, "If a slave has taken refuge with you, do not hand them over to their master. Let them live among you wherever they like and in whatever town they choose. Do not oppress them."
Exodus 21:16, "Anyone who kidnaps someone is to be put to death, whether the victim has been sold or is still in the kidnapper's possession."
Exodus 21:26-27, "An owner who hits a male or female slave in the eye and destroys it must let the slave go free to compensate for the eye. And an owner who knocks out the tooth of a male or female slave must let the slave go free to compensate for the tooth."
Exodus 21:20, "Anyone who beats their male or female slave with a rod must be punished if the slave dies as a direct result."
Bonus3
"Evening to Morning" = "Chaos to Order"
I ran across an interesting, deeper understanding of the words in the Creation story that go like this: "And there was evening and there was morning, the first day" (Genesis 1:5).
The understanding has to do with the specific words used for evening and morning and what their root meanings are (or may be). Basically, the word for evening harkens back to chaos or disorder, and the word for morning harkens back to clean or ordered.
I'll simply refer you to the article (about 1 page): The Deeper Hebrew Meaning of the First Day of Creation.
Many of the Torah's key themes can be summarized with diametrically opposed pairs: life/death, holy/profane, God/Man, Man/Animal, etc., and order/chaos. For more themes from Creation, see: "Creation: Themes and Tidbits."
I had written this bonus section before hearing Josh's message for this Sunday. It turns out there's something of a connection. The Old Testament word for "become," hayah (הָיָה), is used a great deal in the OT (like over 3,500 times). Genesis 1:5 could have been translated "and there became evening and there became morning." There's a lot of "becoming" in the OT as well.