Parashat Yitro: Committed to Obedience

Torah: Ex 18:1-20:23

Haftarah: Is 6:1-7:6, Is 9:5-6

Brit Chadashah: Matt 8:5-20

Main Points:

Jethro gives Moses advice.

Judges were selected to assist Moses.

Israel camps at Sinai. Moses called up to the mountain.

God’s glory appears on Sinai.

Ten Commandments given.

In this week’s parashat, God appears to Israel and begins to give them his covenant law, culture, and customs that would frame their identity forever. They had a sacred opportunity to embrace the word of God and responded to God’s invitation with the words “all that God says we will do.“ (Ex 19:8)

God gives us his will so that we can relate to him and worship him in a way that is pleasing and acceptable. He gives us his will so that we can partner with him in the Tikkun Olam (repair or healing) of the world. Part of our relationship with God involves our understanding of his person, specifically of his love for us. If we do not understand his love for us, we cannot love others the way we should and will have problems partnering with God in his ongoing work of transformation. Within his love and relationship with us is also the idea of obedience to his will. Our obedience is not a cold and lifeless ritual of empty actions and conformity. Obedience is a continuing partnership with God.

God speaks to us all the time. When we set our minds and hearts to meditate and focus on the word of God, we get better at detecting and separating his voice from other things screaming for our attention. The more we obey his leading, the louder and more discernable his voice gets. The more we obey, the easier it gets to put our issues aside and pursue God. Obedience is a sacred trust that comes from our desire to love God above all else.

We have to be careful that we do not serve God and act on his word for the wrong reasons. We live in a consumer society and often incorporate that thinking into our religious lives as a type of spiritual consumerism. In James 4:3, scripture speaks of prayers not being answered because they were predicated on appeasing our carnal lusts, not pursuing the kingdom.

Spiritual consumerism is not the only way our thinking gets in the way of pleasing God. Sometimes our theology can also be flawed when we view the works of God as occurring in a spiritual vacuum.

Scripture does link obedience to success. In Lev 26:3-4, obedience is linked to God preserving the productivity of the land and sending rain and crops. It links obedience to blessing in Deut 28:1. In Ex 15:26, obedience is linked to health and healing. It is also linked to favor. In Deut 5:33, Moses taught that obedience is linked to prolonged days, prosperity, and being God’s treasured possession (Ex 19:5). These are not universal undefiled truths that automatically rain down every single time we act on the word of God. We still experience evil, poverty, bad people, and are sometimes victimized or treated wrongly. We cannot define our sense of obedience with the idea of getting a spiritual return because some of what God gives us is experienced here, but some rewards are reserved for our heavenly inheritance and to promote our walk of faith.

Obedience to God often draws us into conflict. It limits our options and choices. It makes us counter-cultural in how we live. It spotlights our honesty and integrity when our work, acquaintances, or government insists on being dishonest and does the wrong things. Our obedience can also cause us to be targeted, even in the religious community, with those who are at odds with messianic living.

The why of our obedience determines if we are doing things right-spirited. We obey because we love God and have a heart to please him, serve him, and we do his will (with wisdom) regardless of where the chips fall. When our obedience operates out of a sincere desire to love God we are standing in the right place. Our obedience upholds many things in our lives. Scripture states that obedience frames our faith. In 1 Sam 15:22 Samuel taught Saul that obedience was preferred over the misplaced zeal of sacrificing with the wrong spirit.

Obedience defines our character (how we respond to life and people) and must be done by spiritual transformation (Rom 8:14) and in love (Gal 5:14). It gives us actionable and tangible ways to manifest the will of God to a lost world. In John 14:23, Yeshua taught that love and obedience are linked. Love is not just an emotion, it is also a decision and act of the will that is inseparable from obedience, faith, and reverence. In Rom 16:26, obedience is linked to faith and accompanied by works (James 2:17-18). James also went a little further in James 1:22 stating that hearing the word and not doing what it says is a self-deception. Mal 2:2 helps us understand that our obedience is linked to honoring God’s name (James 2:7). Are we conscious that our obedience is a continual honoring of God’s very name?

The days of free faith are coming to a close in America. Antisemitism and anti-Christian sentiment are growing in major political and societal groups. Obedience to the word of God, in the future, will be characterized by many as being subversive, hateful, and even unpatriotic. In a world of deteriorating values and increasing godlessness, the righteous will continue to shine bright. Israel was called to be different. Their possession and keeping of the word of God was a sacred trust. It started at Mt Saini and continues today in the heart of every believer.

Rav Calev Lehrer

Apostolic Messianic International

Next Feast:

Purim begins sundown on March 13th and ends at sundown March 14th.

Hebrew words to know:

Tearing of the garment- K'riah

That’s Horrible- Yiddish, Oy Vay

The First Stage of Grief- Aninut (deep sorrow)

Thief or Crook- Gonif. A Yiddish word for a thief, cheat, or crook.

Together- Yichud, a private moment after the wedding ceremony.

Torn or Mangled- Treifah; A Yiddish term that refers to something mangled or torn asunder (like the soul torn apart by strong anger or other emotions). It also refers to things that are “unkosher.”

Traits of the Soul- Middot Ha’Nefesh