Apr 11, 2022
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I recently gave a talk at my church and I really enjoyed
preparing for that and giving the talk and thought the topic would
be a good one for us to discuss on this podcast.
I'll provide a link to the entire talk which was streamed on
Youtube and lasts over an hour. I encourage you to check it out
since there's a lot more discussion in that than we'll have time
for you on this podcast.
My intent with this Selah episode is to hit the main points
from that talk, and to make some application to the
workplace.
So let me start by giving some context on this talk.
In our Messianic congregation, we have worship and teaching
similar to most churches. A few things that are different
than what I was used to before attending this church include that
we publically read a couple chapters before the Pastor gives his
teaching, then we have what we call Oneg, which is basically a
potluck meal, and then we have what we call Torah Talk, which is
another teaching that normally involves a lot of participation from
those attending and often allows to go a little deeper into certain
topics from the reading that there wasn't time for in the main
teaching.
We call the readings the parashat.
Wikipedia's definition of a parashat is "a section of the
Torah (Five Books of Moses) used in Jewish liturgy during a
particular week. There are 54 parshas,
or parashiyot in Hebrew, and the full cycle is read over the course
of one Jewish year."
So we follow that Jewish tradition. Every parashat has a
traditional name which is normally a Hebrew word found in the
parashat that kind of sums up the overall message from that
Parashat.
My talk was based on Lev 14-15 and the Parashat was called
"T'zria". These passages are primarily about T'zaraat which
is often translated as leprosy but really refers to a skin
disease.
This lesson had both physical and spiritual lessons.
The first lesson was that Disease is
usually contagious and therefore for the good of the whole, the
infected person is quarantined.
The
scriptures talk a lot about keeping ourselves unspotted from the
world.
Ps 1:1 says
"Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the
scornful;”:
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James 1:27 NKJV says “Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.”
There was a lot of discussion during this talk about how we should apply these in our lives. It reminded me of how so often the Christian walk is filled with tension, in a good way. In this case, we should not mingle and be spotted by unbelievers, but at the same time we are to be like Jesus and love on unbelievers and those who are entrapped by sinful lifestyles that we're not currently struggling with.
I think the key in working this out is to know where we are in our walk. If we're spiritually weak, we need to be very guarded not to let the world impact us. If we're spiritually strong, relatively speaking, we need to be salt and light and be about the Father's business while there is light during the day, sharing the Gospel, and blessing others.
This is certainly true in the workplace. There can be a lot of temptations in the workplace and opportunities to sort of blend in and be worldly and sinful. Our job is to be set apart, but to also always be ready give an answer to everyone who asks us the reason for the hope that we have.
In John 17:15 NKJV Jesus said “I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one.”
One of the great things about working in the marketplace and not in "full-time" ministry is that it's so easy to live out this prayer from our Savior. Going to work each day, we are in the world, but our job is to keep ourselves from the evil one while at work.
That's just the first lesson I discussed and there were 6 lessons, but I'm going to keep this short so I can get to other parts I usually cover in my Selah episode, especially I didn't do that in the last episode.
Again, if you want to hear more check out the full teaching at the link in the shownotes.
https://youtu.be/ySVAHjI-hLI
Because they have a good reward for their labor.
10 For if they fall, one will lift up his companion.
But woe to him who is alone when he falls,
For he has no one to help him up.
11 Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm;
But how can one be warm alone?
12 Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him.
And a threefold cord is not quickly broken."
It will pay off for them and for us, and it's biblical, meaning it's God's way.