{"id":3932,"date":"2021-04-27T03:25:55","date_gmt":"2021-04-27T08:25:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/?p=3932"},"modified":"2021-05-08T03:29:14","modified_gmt":"2021-05-08T08:29:14","slug":"miracle-of-a-new-heart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/miracle-of-a-new-heart\/","title":{"rendered":"Miracle of a New Heart…"},"content":{"rendered":"
In the Sermon on the Mount Yeshua warned that our righteousness should exceed that of the religious leaders of his day (Matt. 5:20), and he went on to say: \u201cbe perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect\u201d (Matt. 5:48). Here we note that the Greek word translated \u201cperfect\u201d (\u03c4\u1f73\u03bb\u03b5\u03b9\u03bf\u03c2) may mean \u201cmature\u201d or \u201cfully developed\u201d more than morally flawless, though regarding moral and spiritual practice this distinction is not clear cut, especially if by \u201cmature\u201d we mean godly in character, as the context of Yeshua\u2019s statement clearly implies (see Matt. 5:1-48). The Hebrew word translated as \u201cperfect\u201d (\u05ea\u05bc\u05b8\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd) can also mean \u201ccomplete,\u201d but it can connote being \u201cwholehearted,\u201d \u201csound,\u201d or even healed (\u05e9\u05c1\u05b8\u05dc\u05b5\u05dd). So the question arises, does the word \u201cperfect\u201d mean \u201cflawless\u201d or \u201chealed\u201d — or perhaps both?<\/p>\n
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Of course we affirm that God alone is truly perfect (Deut. 32:4; Psalm 18:30), completely good (Matt. 19:17), flawlessly righteous (Psalm 145:17), entirely holy (Isa. 6:3; Rev. 15:4), and peerlessly unique (Exod. 15:11; Jer. 10:6-7), but how can we relate to God\u2019s overmastering perfection in the midst of our daily flaws and chronic imperfections? How dare we approach \u201cto offer the bread of God\u201d (Lev. 21:17)?<\/p>\n
Followers of the LORD are called to be a nation of priests, a \u201cselect people,\u201d set apart to serve God in holiness (Exod. 19:5-6; 1 Pet. 2:9; Lev. 11:45), but it is clear we are blemished, imperfect, blind, halt, needy, and unclean… This is common to the human condition: all of us, Jew or non-Jew alike, are broken, flawed, and in the midst of the inevitable flow of life that leads to death and decay (Rom. 3:23). We are sick with sin and unable to heal ourselves, and therefore we need a radical transformation – \u201cdeliverance from ourselves\u201d \u2013 that must come through divine intervention and the miracle of spiritual rebirth (John 3:3,7).<\/p>\n
Nevertheless in this world the paradox still remains: we are finite yet long for the undying, the infinite; we are in flux yet anchored in hope; we are a \u201cnew creation\u201d yet still saddled with the old nature; we are made holy yet we live in the midst of the profane; we are purified yet still need cleansing; we are healed yet are still wounded; we are redeemed of God yet still need to turn to God in teshuvah; we die daily yet have eternal life. Our hearts are to be a divine sanctuary, yet we are powerless to make God appear in our midst…<\/p>\n
Perfection haunts us; we often confuse the ideal and the real. Our romantic visions fail us; all of us are strangers, wanderers, in lonely exile. And the question then becomes \u2013 how do we embrace the \u201calready-not-yet,\u201d the process, the fleeting days with their poignant moments \u2013 within the context of real hope, a vision that heals and brings us real comfort? How do we make peace with our imperfections, our present darkness, and our hunger for deliverance? How do we envision healing in the midst of our brokenness?<\/p>\n
Ironically those defects that disqualify us as priests can be transformed (by grace) into compassion for others, and this can enable us to reach out to God in the midst of our flawed existence… After all, the deepest role of the priest is to draw others near to God, but this requires empathy and awareness of the needs of others. Therefore God clothed himself with our frailty, our infirmities, and the brokenness of our sin in order to redeem us in Yeshua. As it is written, we have a high priest who is able to sympathize with our weaknesses (Heb. 4:15). The priest of the New Covenant is a mediator through through poverty of spirit and mourning (Matt. 5:3-8). Just as Joshua the high priest was graciously given robes of righteousness in exchange for his filthy garments (Zech 3), so we are given an imputed righteousness that comes through trusting in \u201cthe One who justifies the ungodly\u201d (Rom. 4:5). \u201cFor our sake God made Him (i.e., Yeshua) to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God\u201d (2 Cor. 5:21). This is a righteousness that is \u201capart from the law, though the law and prophets testified of it; namely, the righteousness of God given through the faithfulness of Yeshua the Messiah\u201d (Rom. 3:21-22). Our present groaning for the complete deliverance is a gift given by the Spirit of God crying out within our hearts (Rom. 8:22-23).<\/p>\n
C.S. Lewis once remarked, \u201cGod doesn’t love you because you are good, but He will make you good because He loves you.\u201d This goodness is the miraculous inner working of an imparted godliness, the divine gift of a new heart and spirit (Ezek. 36:26). Awaken to your eternal perfection in the world to come: \u201cYou shall be perfect even as your heavenly Father is perfect\u201d can be read as a prophecy. Do not give up, friends; do not succumb to despair. We must learn to endure ourselves and believe in the healing to come. “Do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (2 Cor. 4:16-18). And may God help us walk in perfect faith in His unfailing love (Phil. 3:14).<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/torahheart2.jpg?resize=173%2C190&ssl=1\")
In the Sermon on the Mount Yeshua warned that our righteousness should exceed that of the religious leaders of his day (Matt. 5:20), and he went on to say: \u201cbe perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect\u201d (Matt. 5:48). Here we note that the Greek word translated \u201cperfect\u201d (\u03c4\u1f73\u03bb\u03b5\u03b9\u03bf\u03c2) may mean \u201cmature\u201d or \u201cfully developed\u201d more than morally flawless, though regarding moral and spiritual practice this distinction is not clear cut, especially if by \u201cmature\u201d we mean godly in character, as the context of Yeshua\u2019s statement clearly implies (see Matt. 5:1-48). The Hebrew word translated as \u201cperfect\u201d (\u05ea\u05bc\u05b8\u05de\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd) can also mean \u201ccomplete,\u201d but it can connote being \u201cwholehearted,\u201d \u201csound,\u201d or even healed (\u05e9\u05c1\u05b8\u05dc\u05b5\u05dd). So the question arises, does the word \u201cperfect\u201d mean \u201cflawless\u201d or \u201chealed\u201d — or perhaps both?<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hebrew4christians.com\/training\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/ezek36-26a-analysis.gif?resize=571%2C529&ssl=1\")
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