Chosenness

1
Chosen-ness

• What does it mean to be the Chosen People?

2
Chosen to be blessed

• Parasha Ki Tavo
• Deut 28 blessings
• (The first IF-THEN statement)
• If you listen to what ADONAI your G-d says,
  observing and obeying all his mitzvot which I am
  giving you today, then ADONAI your G-d will raise
  you high above all the nations on earth and all
  the following blessings will be yours in
  abundance --- if you will do what ADONAI your G-d
  says

3
Chosen to be blessed

• A blessing on you in the city, and a blessing on
  you in the countryside.
  
• A blessing on you when you go out, and a
  blessing on you when you come in.
  
• ADONAI will cause your enemies attacking you to
  be defeated before you they will advance on you
  one way and flee before you seven ways.
  
• - CJB

4
Chosen to be blessed

• ADONAI will order a blessing to be with you in
  your barns and in everything you undertake He
  will bless you in the land ADONAI your G-d is
  giving you.

5
Chosen to be blessed

• ADONAI will establish you as a people separated
  out for himself, as He has sworn to youif you
  will observe the mitzvot of ADONAI your G-d and
  follow His ways. Then all the people on earth
  will see that ADONAIs Name, His Presence, is
  with you so that they will be afraid of you.

6
Chosen to be blessed

• You will lend to many nations and not borrow
• ADONAI will make you the head and not the tail
  and you will be only above, never below
  - CJB

7
What does it mean to be Chosen?

• As Jews, on the Inside looking out
• As Gentiles, on the Outside looking in
• From G-Ds perspective, from the Top looking down

8
Inside Looking Out

• The Trap of Arrogance
• Pride in our worldly, albeit supernatural
  contributions to the world of science, etc.
  
• Chemistry (29 prize winners, 19 of world total,
  28 of US total)
  
• Economics (22 prize winners, 38 of world total,
  51 of US total)

9
Inside Looking Out

• Pride (contd)
• Literature (13 prize winners, 13 of world total,
  27 of US total)
  
• Peace (9 prize winners, 10 of world total, 11
  of US total)3 Physics (47 prize winners, 26 of
  world total, 38 of US total)
  
• Physiology or Medicine (53 prize winners, 28 of
  world total, 42 of US total)
  

10
Inside Looking Out

• (Jews currently make up approximately 0.25 of
  the world's population and 2 of the US
  population.)

11
Why are we the Chosen People?...

• Deut 77-8 CJB
• ADONAI didnt set His heart on you or choose you
  because you numbered more than any other
  peopleon the contrary, you were the fewest of
  all peoples.
• Rather, it was because ADONAI loved you, and
  because He wanted to keep the oath which He had
  sworn to your ancestors.
  

12
The Covenant with Avraham

• Genesis 122-3
• I will make of you a great nation, I will bless
  you, and I will make your name great and you are
  to be a blessing.
  
• I will bless those who bless you, but I will
  curse anyone who curses you and by you all the
  families of the earth will be blessed.

13
Humility is Demanded of the Righteous

• Romans 29-15 (JNT)
• Yes, He will pay back misery and anguish to every
  human being who does evil, to the Jew first, then
  to the Gentile  but glory and honor and shalom
  to everyone who keeps doing what is good, to the
  Jew first, then to the Gentile.  
• For G-d does not show favoritism.  

14
Humility is Demanded of the Righteous

• All who have sinned outside the framework of
  Torah will die outside the framework of Torah
  and all who have sinned within the framework of
  Torah will be judged by Torah.  
• For it is not merely the hearers of Torah whom
  G-d considers righteous rather, it is the doers
  of what Torah says who will be made righteous in
  G-ds sight.  

15
Humility is Demanded of the Righteous

• For whenever Gentiles, who have no Torah, do
  naturally what the Torah requires, then these,
  even though they dont have Torah, for themselves
  are Torah!  For their lives show that the conduct
  the Torah dictates is written in their hearts.

16
G-D Demands Humility

• Romans 217-25 (JNT)But if you call yourself a
  Jew and rest on Torah and boast about G-d and
  know his will and give your approval to what is
  right, because you have been instructed from the
  Torah  
• and if you have persuaded yourself that you are a
  guide to the blind, a light in the darkness, an
  instructor for the spiritually unaware and a
  teacher of children, since in the Torah you have
  the embodiment of knowledge and truth  

17
G-D Demands Humility

•  
• then, you who teach others, dont you teach
  yourself? Preaching, Thou shalt not steal, do
  you steal?  
  
• Saying, Thou shalt not commit adultery, do you
  commit adultery?
  
• Detesting idols, do you commit idolatrous acts?
   
  
• You who take such pride in Torah, do you, by
  disobeying the Torah, dishonor G-d? as it says
  in the Tanakh, For it is because of you that
  G-ds name is blasphemed by the Goyim.

18
G-D Demands Humility

•  
• For circumcision is indeed of value if you do
  what Torah says. But if you are a transgressor of
  Torah, your circumcision has become
  uncircumcision!

19
A Royal Priesthood

• 1 Kefa 28-10 (JNT)
• But you are a chosen people, the Kings cohanim,
  a holy nation, a people for G-d to possess!
  
• Why? In order for you to declare the praises of
  the One who called you out of darkness into his
  wonderful light! Once you were not a people, but
  now you are G-ds people before, you had not
  received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

20
Outside Looking In

• The Trap of Inferiority
• Some Messianic congregations and group
  affiliations have declared the Gentiles (the
  "nations") as having no part in Messianic Judaism
  in an attempt to keep Messianic Judaism
  ethnically Jewish.

21
Outside Looking In

• This has caused divisions within the Messianic
  Movement, prompting Messianic Gentiles to adopt
  various views regarding their inclusion and
  acceptance within Messianic Judaism.
  - Wikipedia
• G-d forbid, Gentiles feel that way at BHS

22
Outside Looking In

• Resentment (reaction to stereotypes reinforced by
  Jews whom they perceive as arrogant)
  
• We want the blessings!...
• We want to be chosen!...
• Replacement theology
• Anti-Semitism (Supernatural, irrational hatred)
• Down with those Christ-killers!...
• A misapplication of Act 3

23
Acts 3

• Seeing this, Kefa addressed the people Men of
  Israel! Why are you amazed at this? Or why do
  you stare at us as if we had made this man walk
  through some power or godliness of our own?
• The G-d of Avraham, Yitzchak and Ya?akov, the
  G-d of our fathers, has glorified his servant
  Yeshua the same Yeshua you handed over and
  disowned before Pilate, even after he had decided
  to release him.

24
Acts 3

• You denied the holy and innocent one, and
  instead asked for the reprieve of a murderer! You
  killed the author of life!
  
• But G-d has raised him from the dead! Of this we
  are witnesses.  
  
• And it is through putting trust in his name that
  his name has given strength to this man whom you
  see and know. Yes, it is the trust that comes
  through Yeshua which has given him this perfect
  healing in the presence of you all.

25
Acts 3

• Now, brothers, I know that you did not
  understand the significance of what you were
  doing neither did your leaders.
  
• But this is how G-d fulfilled what he had
  announced in advance, when he spoke through all
  the prophets, namely, that His Messiah was to die.

26
Acts 3

• You are the sons of the prophets and you are
  included in the covenant which G-d made with our
  fathers when he said to Avraham, By your seed
  will all the families of the earth be blessed.
• So it is to you first that G-d has sent his
  servant whom he has raised up, so that he might
  bless you by turning each one of you from your
  evil ways. Acts 312-26 (JNT)

27
Grafted Contrary to Nature

• Romans 1111-24  (JNT)
• In that case, I say, isnt it that they have
  stumbled with the result that they have
  permanently fallen away? Heaven forbid!
  
• Quite the contrary, it is by means of their
  stumbling that the deliverance has come to the
  Gentiles, in order to provoke them to jealousy.  

28
Grafted Contrary to Nature

• Moreover, if their stumbling is bringing riches
  to the world that is, if Israels being placed
  temporarily in a condition less favored than that
  of the Gentiles is bringing riches to the latter
  how much greater riches will Israel in its
  fullness bring them!

29
Grafted Contrary to Nature

•  However, to those of you who are Gentiles I say
  this since I myself am an emissary sent to the
  Gentiles, I make known the importance of my work
  in the hope that somehow I may provoke some of my
  own people to jealousy and save some of them! For
  if their casting Yeshua aside means
  reconciliation for the world, what will their
  accepting him mean? It will be life from the
  dead!

30
Grafted Contrary to Nature

• Now if the challah offered as firstfruits is
  holy, so is the whole loaf. And if the root is
  holy, so are the branches.
  
• But if some of the branches were broken off, and
  you a wild olive were grafted in among them
  and have become equal sharers in the rich root of
  the olive tree, then dont boast as if you were
  better than the branches! However, if you do
  boast, remember that you are not supporting the
  root, the root is supporting you.

31
Grafted Contrary to Nature

• So you will say, Branches were broken off so
  that I might be grafted in.  True, but so what?
  They were broken off because of their lack of
  trust. However, you keep your place only because
  of your trust. So dont be arrogant on the
  contrary, be terrified!  For if G-d did not spare
  the natural branches, he certainly wont spare
  you!  

32
Grafted Contrary to Nature

• So take a good look at G-ds kindness and his
  severity on the one hand, severity toward those
  who fell off but, on the other hand, G-ds
  kindness toward you provided you maintain
  yourself in that kindness! Otherwise, you too
  will be cut off!  Moreover, the others, if they
  do not persist in their lack of trust, will be
  grafted in because G-d is able to graft them
  back in.

33
Grafted Contrary to Nature

• For if you were cut out of what is by nature a
  wild olive tree and grafted, contrary to nature,
  into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will
  these natural branches be grafted back into their
  own olive tree!

34
Top looking down

• To the Jew first, the sons and daughters of
  Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
  
• Deut 76 (JNT) For you are a people as holy for
  ADONAI your G-d. ADONAI your G-d has chosen you
  out of all the peoples on the face of the earth
  to be his own unique treasure.
• To the Jew first was His order, and IS His
  order
  
• If you dont like it, youre OUT OF ORDER.

35
Top Looking Down

• Mt 1521-28 (JNT) 
  
  
• Yeshua left that place and went off to the region
  of Tzor and Tzidon.  A woman from Kenaan who was
  living there came to him, pleading, Sir, have
  pity on me. Son of David! My daughter is cruelly
  held under the power of demons!  
• But Yeshua did not say a word to her. Then his
  talmidim came to him and urged him, Send her
  away, because she is following us and keeps
  pestering us with her crying.  
• He said, I was sent only to the lost sheep of
  the house of Israel.  

36
Top Looking Down

• Mt 1521-28 (JNT) 
  
  
• But she came, fell at his feet and said, Sir,
  help me!  
  
• He answered, It is not right to take the
  childrens food and toss it to their pet dogs.
   
  
• She said, That is true, sir, but even the dogs
  eat the leftovers that fall from their masters
  table.  
  
• Then Yeshua answered her, Lady, you are a
  person of great trust. Let your desire be
  granted. And her daughter was healed at that
  very moment.

37
Top looking down

• Mt 1521-28 (JNT) 
  
  
• Yeshua left that place and went off to the region
  of Tzor and Tzidon.  A woman from Kenaan who was
  living there came to him, pleading, Sir, have
  pity on me. Son of David! My daughter is cruelly
  held under the power of demons!  
• But Yeshua did not say a word to her. Then his
  talmidim came to him and urged him, Send her
  away, because she is following us and keeps
  pestering us with her crying.  

38
So How do we (Jews Gentiles) Bless all the
Nations?

• Eph 41-3 (JNT)
  
  
  Therefore I, the prisoner united
  with the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of
  the calling to which you have been called.
  Always be humble, gentle and patient, bearing
  with one another in love,  and making every
  effort to preserve the unity the Spirit gives
  through the binding power of shalom.

39
So How do we Bless?

• Matthew 514-16 (JNT)You are light for the
  world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.
  Likewise, when people light a lamp, they dont
  cover it with a bowl but put it on a lampstand,
  so that it shines for everyone in the house.
• In the same way, let your light shine before
  people, so that they may see the good things you
  do and praise your Father in heaven.

40
So How do we Bless?

• Titus 27-8 (JNT)
  
  When you are teaching, have
  integrity and be serious let everything you say
  be so wholesome that an opponent will be put to
  shame because he will have nothing bad to say
  about us.
• Guard our opinions
• On a personal note
• Speak only words that build up

41
So How do we Bless?

• Eph 429-32 (JNT)
  
  
  Let no harmful language come from
  your mouth, only good words that are helpful in
  meeting the need, words that will benefit those
  who hear them.  
• Dont cause grief to G-ds Ruach HaKodesh, for
  he has stamped you as his property until the day
  of final redemption.  
  

42
So How do we Bless?

• Eph 429-32 (JNT)
• Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, violent
  assertiveness and slander, along with all
  spitefulness.  
  
• Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted
  and forgive each other, just as in the Messiah
  G-d has also forgiven you.

43
Share the Good News!

• Share the Good News of our lasting atonement
  through the shed blood of Yeshua HaMashiach!
  
• Romans 116-17 (JNT)For I am not ashamed of the
  Good News, since it is G-ds powerful means of
  bringing salvation to everyone who keeps on
  trusting, to the Jew especially, but equally to
  the Gentile. For in it is revealed how G-d makes
  people righteous in his sight and from beginning
  to end it is through trust as the Tanakh puts
  it, But the person who is righteous will live
  his life by trust.

44
Conclusion

• Like a man chooses his bride, the Messiah is
  choosing His
  
• YOU are the Conclusion
• How this ends is up to you!
• The same Ruach HaKodesh that indwells every
  believer can transform us with that same
  resurrection power He used to raise Yeshua from
  the dead!

45

• Will you take a stand,

to BLESS?