Friday, 20 January 2023

What Is Garbage To Me?

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Philippians 3:8b-11 Because of Him I have suffered the loss of all things; and I consider them garbage in order that I might gain Messiah and be found in Him not having my righteousness derived from Torah, but one that is through trusting in Messiah - the righteousness from God based on trust. My aim is to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the sharing of His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death - if somehow I might arrive at the resurrection from among the dead.

How many preachers, theologians, academics and scholars have read this section and completely misunderstood its meaning? They read, "I consider them garbage" and fall into the trap of considering the Torah as garbage. The Torah isn't garbage, righteousness derived from the Torah is. 1 Timothy 1:8 But we know that the Torah is good if one uses it legitimately.

Clearly from the context in Philippians, the garbage is the "loss" of all things. Yeshua breaks us down, takes away everything we previously thought of ourselves and then builds us back up in Him. He reorders every area of our lives. That old stuff (pride, fear, doubt, love of stuff, etc) is now lost to us in Messiah Yeshua.

Staying in context, Philippians 3:10a My aim is to know Him and the power of His resurrection. If we want to know Him and His power, then we should read what He is thinking and saying. Where would we read that? Yes, in the Bible.

But we must approach His word by faith. Hebrews 11:6 Now without faith it is impossible to please God. For the one who comes to God must believe that He exists and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. Faith doesn't replace the Word of God, faith establishes the Word of God. Romans 10:17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Messiah.

In Hebrew we say, Ma Nishma? (the same for both men and women). It is idiomatic for "how are you doing" but literally means "what do we hear?" What we hear depends on where we put our ears. Put your ears on the word of God. You'll hear heaven singing. They are singing God praises.

Psalm 19:2 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky shows His handiwork ... 8a The Torah of Adonai is perfect, restoring the soul.

The choice is between the stuff and things of this world that decay, and are passing away, or the eternal resurrection power of Yeshua. Choose wisely my friends.