Saving Face – Part 3 – The Way of The King

Automated transcript, lightly edited for readability. Scripture appears as spoken; the video is the authoritative teaching.

An Honor-Shame Culture

All right, so I wanted to continue this week and conclude our series on honor and shame. If you weren't here for the last two weeks, we live in a very individualistic culture. We think of ourselves. We do not really think of others. When we act, when we do something wrong, it really only affects us and maybe some immediate people. But it doesn't affect our whole community. It really doesn't. Whereas in the East, there's a different mindset. It's a completely different culture. It's a culture called an honor-shame culture, where every step that you take not only impacts you, but it impacts the entire community, your entire people.

This is the community that Scripture was written in, specifically in the first century, when your reputation, your face, as they call it in the East, was your social credit score whenever you walked out the door. Either you were esteemed due to your honor that was either inherited to you by your father or that you had achieved in your lifetime, or you were an outcast because of the shame that you had committed. When I say shame, I mean if you're sinning, let's say if you're a tax collector, for instance. Being in that position was a shameful position for your entire community. Therefore, the entire community would push you out.

You wouldn't be accepted. Whereas nowadays, it's a job. Meh. No big deal.

The Teaching of Yeshua on Honor

We spoke about the honor game whenever Yeshua was challenged by the Pharisees and Sadducees and the lawyers of the law and so on and so forth. How that was really a strike at his honor. And every one of his responses was a riposte, a response that kept his honor and shamed them instead. We spoke about what it means to not want to achieve your honor and how that was such a revolutionary idea because Yeshua taught that you shouldn't try to esteem yourself and gain glory in front of men. In the culture, that's how your reputation's built. That's a big deal. That's a really big deal. No, guys, don't even do it.

If someone slaps you on the face, a sign of a challenge to your honor or shame, just turn the other cheek. We spoke about playing Monopoly and how the game always ends. You just throw in your chips and I'm not going to play anymore. That's what Yeshua taught about this whole honor-shame game. It's not about your glory. We spoke about what the curse of the law was. Galatians tells us it's the curse of a man that's hung in a tree. See, if you were hung on a tree, it meant that you were shamed, you see. You were stripped of all of your identity. That's why they hung Saul after he died on the walls, the Philistines, because he lost his legacy of being a king once his body was defamed in such a way.

A Divided Nation

I was at the March for Life, you guys are familiar with this, right? This took place this week. I think Jeannie went up there and she was marching with several hundred thousand others. And what I found very interesting is this is a March for Life. And if you're not familiar with this march, I think it's an annual march in Washington, D.C. It's really a march against abortion, okay? Now, I know that abortion seems to be a complicated issue in the political world. It is. But when it hits home, for the most part, all of us, I should hope, believe that this is a life, right? And so this got me thinking.

We have hundreds of thousands of people up there, and I'm looking, and I notice something. Because everyone, as soon as you think of abortion and politics, because for some reason, politics governs our lives here in America. For some reason it does. You're either a conservative or you're either a liberal. You can't be both. You can't cross those lines. You might be a libertarian, right? And they're just, meh, what do they believe? Or you're an independent, which means you're an outcast all the same because you don't fit into that social group, honor-shame, right? Great example, right? And so if you disagree with your core group's values, then you're excluded in that group.

And once you're excluded from one group, you're shamed. You're automatically included in another group. So your own group, let's say you differed on some conservative views, and so your conservative friends kicked you out. By default, they would identify you with the liberal side of politics and vice versa. And it's a very strange thing how all these little things are identified with a political realm in this country, and it has to do with our identity. Sometimes I wonder, when Judah was in exile in Babylon, what political identity did they have or did they even care? Hmm. And so abortion is one of those things, if you're pro-life, by default, you're automatically assumed to be a conservative, right?

Because that's a conservative core value. And most conservatives, I've met some that don't, but most conservatives, very pro-life, so on and so forth. But looking at the pictures of the March for Life, this was not a conservative rally, guys. I saw blacks, I saw whites, I saw Asians. I saw Democrats, I saw liberals, Republicans, conservatives, I saw libertarians, I saw independents, I saw people of all walks in life walking the street for a common goal, and that was because it wasn't a march for Republican candidates, it wasn't a march for Democratic candidates, it wasn't a march for any type of political movement per se, it was a march for life, and where everybody came together on the collective idea that we believe that life starts in the womb.

And we would like to see change. Collectively, we'd like to see some sort of change in how society views that.

Abortion in the Ancient Near East

I didn't mean to go on a rant on that, but this caused me to study abortion in the ancient Near East. See, we think that abortion is this new thing and this very complicated thing, and because it's a medical procedure and you can take pills or the partial birth abortions, all these different facets of abortion. Am I making anybody uncomfortable yet? Okay, you might. And so I wanted to see, hey, in the Near East, this is what I like to study, the time period that I like to study. In the Near East, did they have any problems with it? Because we know that in Exodus, I believe it's Exodus, I'm misquoting in my mind, we have a law that says if a man accidentally or even on purpose causes a woman to miscarry, pushes her, he's to be charged in a criminal court for it and so on and so forth.

And then we see that same identical law in the Code of Hammurabi, which is a Babylonian code. And then we see that same law in Sumer, this Sumerian law books, much older dated than Torah itself. And we see this collective idea where, wow, this law is almost verbatim in all of the Near East, where if a man causes a woman to miscarry, then he's going to be prosecuted, specifically by her husband. But most of the laws, like in the Code of Hammurabi or in Sumer, were accidental occurrences. If a man accidentally tripped a woman or whatever happened, accidentally tripped her. But then I came to a law in ancient Assyrian laws, okay?

Paragraph 53 in the ancient Assyrian law text. And it says that if a woman purposely miscarries her child, 35,000, 4,000 years ago, guys. Apparently there were some herbs you could take or there was stuff you could do. And now what I'm about to say, I'm not sitting here, I'm just telling you history, okay? And I'm going to tell you why they believed this, okay? Everybody understand? Okay? So in ancient Assyria, they would say if they found a woman of the community, remember, collective community, every person matters because we're all part of one unit. We should not be divided on anything. If one person does something, it affects everybody, okay?

You have the ability to shame your entire people by the way that you act, speak, walk, everything you do. So if a woman was known, the truth came out, they prosecuted her, they found evidence, so on and so forth, that she aborted her child, in the ancient Assyria, they would place her on a stake. With the stipulation that she would not be buried in the ground. And if she died during that procedure, then the same thing. And remember, the stake wasn't supposed to be this violent, oh, we're mad at you. Remember, the stake was supposed to strip identity from someone. If your body was ever hung from a tree or in a stake and pelmet, it was supposed to strip an identity away from you so that she was no longer part of us.

Why? Because it was assumed that she was destroying a part of the people. But what's more interesting is in ancient Assyria, they would say not to bury her in the ground so that she could not be rejoined with the soul that she destroyed. Because remember, in the Near East at least, they used to bury people in the ground because it was believed that underneath the earth, underneath the waters of chaos, was Sheol, the place where the souls go, and so on and so forth. And I found that interesting. Not how they managed it or not how they viewed it, but that the topic was still a hot topic 4,000 years ago. I don't know, I just found that interesting.

Shame and Following Christ

This is history. But it was really encouraging to see, because I see a lot of people in the body of Yeshua who love politics. Abortion aside, who love politics. I do not like politics. I keep up with politics as much as I can because I go and I vote and I go home. There are people in the body that are divided by the politics of this country. Let me put it in perspective. See, Yeshua says that we will be shamed when we become followers of him, right? We're going to be shamed. Why? Because we're going to lose all credibility with our family, with our friends, with the world, because the world will no longer love us. That's how you know you're a follower, when the world hates you, right?

Strength and Honor

So you're going to lose all of your honor when you choose to follow Yeshua. And your shame that you carried through Adam was nailed to the cross, and now, after the resurrection, you have his honor. That's what part one is about. It's on YouTube. We are in a new group of people. We used to be part of the world. Now we're part of the body of Messiah, the body of Christ. Amen. And we are brothers and sisters. We are kin. Who is my mother and my sisters? You are my mother and my sisters, said Yeshua. You are my brothers and my sisters in Messiah. Paul goes on to say, esteem others. Esteem your brethren higher than yourself.

It's almost like a challenge, like a game. Which of you can honor all the rest of you the most? Go. Honor, honor, honor. We talked about strength and honor. Russell Crowe was writing at the beginning of that movie, Gladiator—I don't watch secular movies. He holds up his strength and honor, strength and honor. From the general down to the lowest ranking, strength and honor, because everyone's on the same page. We're all part of the same army. We are soldiers of Yeshua Messiah. That's what Scripture says. We fight alongside each other. We are the band of brothers, and we're divided over political issues in this country.

Weightier Matters

Do you know that after the resurrection we're not going to be in this country? I'm talking about weightier matters. I know there is a very complicated political system in this country. I really do. Trust me, I vote, I keep up with politics. But I also know the bigger picture is that one day we're going to be in the land. We're going to be in the land with our king. And I hate to break it to you. If you're a conservative, I hate to break it to you: He sure wasn't a conservative. He wasn't a Republican. If you're a Democrat, I hate to break it to you: He sure wasn't a Democrat. You few libertarians out there, I know a couple.

Yeshua wasn't a libertarian either. I know, I know. When Yeshua comes back, he's going to be something called a king. You're not going to get a vote. I love midrashing about scripture. I love talking about politics, okay? Promise you, I'm a weird one when it comes to politics. I love talking about politics, but the second that someone starts getting mad at me or I start getting mad at someone else, if you disagree with your brother, that's fine. My vote will take yours out. Leave it at that, guys. We have people that need to be reached. And I feel like if we put some of our passion back into reaching those who are lost, comforting those who need comforting, if we put as much passion into that as we do into other things, maybe we would be closer together, more closely knit together as brothers and sisters.

The Shameful Stake

Anyway. Sorry, I didn't mean to bring that awkward topic up. I just talked about the stake and I wanted to address the shameful stake and the shaming death. That's what all that was about. But within the first two series of Saving Face, we spoke about the beheadings and what that represents and the samurai. And so essentially, part one, we went over our shame. There's a debate whether we have inherited sin or not from Adam, but we know for a fact that in that country and in that culture, it was viewed that we had shame—we had shame from Adam. Because your shame is inherited from your father, or your honor from your father, and we know our father is Adam. Through one man, shame entered the world, and we know Yeshua took that shame away. We know that any honor we can achieve isn't worth it because he has his honor, and he bestows it on us, and we're going to speak about that. Last week we spoke about how to treat each other—kinship and brotherhood—in an honorshame community, especially as believers. This week I want to speak about how we honor our King.

Brought Near to the Covenants

So we were outcasts. We were brought near to the covenants of God through Yeshua. We have brothers and sisters here. We are one, right? Now, as a tribe, as a nation, how do we treat our king? I want to tell you guys a story, and this story is about you. Let's pretend it's you and your family. You live in a land far, far away in a time outside of this time. It's a beautiful country. You've heard of this kingdom in the far distance, but you've never been there. You've heard great things about it. You live out in the field, beyond the serfdom, away from this kingdom, just you there. And you think one day you'll go to this kingdom, this mighty castle kingdom that's out there, because you hear great things about the king.

The king there is merciful. The king there is just. The king there is righteous. The king treats every one of his people with respect. And they love him because they have his honor. You've heard that the people dress really cool, and they're so friendly. The men have these cool clothes that they wear—the garments of the kingdom. The women have these cool scarves they wear— the garments of the kingdom too. The children play together, and it sounds like, oh, what a wonderful place to be. But it's far away, and you've never been inside. Maybe one day I can go there with my family.

An Invitation to My Kingdom

And while you're sitting there with your family in your home, you hear something outside. You're not sure what it is, so you go to the door, and it's a horse pulling up at the end of your sidewalk. What is this? It's a carriage! What kind of a carriage, guys? This is the royal carriage pulling up to your house. The king is in front of your house—the king of this kingdom. And he pulls up and he says, "Hey, I'm inviting you to my kingdom. Won't you come?" So you get in the carriage and you go to the front gate, and it's gold, and it opens up for you and your family. Is this real? Is this really happening?

You walk inside and all the people are really cool. They're so nice. The men come up to you and put the garments around you. It's awesome. They shake your hand. The women are coming up, putting the scarves around your wife. Welcome to the kingdom, sister. Your children as well. All the kids come running up, playing with them. Everyone's greeting you. Could this really be happening? Is this real? Someone comes up to you and says, "Hey, I know you've only been here for a little while. Tomorrow is the king's feast. Would you like to participate?" What do you say? Of course! Absolutely, I want to participate.

Whatever the king wants me to do in his kingdom, I submit. The king has a dance party. I don't care if I have two left feet. We're going to make this thing happen. When the king rises, you rise with the king. When he sits, you sit. When the king cries in his mourning, the people cry with him. This is the kingdom.

Sitting by the Door

Now, I presented this story as a fantasy, as something that's not real, as a figment of your imagination, but guys, it is real. This is a real kingdom. This is the kingdom of our Father, And so, what if the feast day happens, and you're so excited? Because guys, I got my new jacket. It's not my old clothes. It's not my old life. This is my new life. Wife loves a new scarf. Kids are running around with the other kids, and everyone's dancing and praising their king. But you walk up and you see some guy who had been invited into the kingdom, and he's sitting there by the door, and he doesn't have the garments on. You ask him, "Hey, where's your coat? Didn't everyone get one of these?" He's like, "Yeah, I didn't want to wear it." "Okay, would you like to get up and dance? Come on, this is Havana. Would you like to get up and dance?"

"No, I don't want to dance." "Well, the king—I mean, just right around the corner here is where the king's holding his grand celebration. His whole kingdom's there. Come on, why don't you?" "No, I don't want to go. I don't have to." "Okay, but you're a member of the kingdom." "Yeah, I'm a member of the kingdom. He invited me in here. I'm here." "Okay, well, I'll see you around. I'm going to go hang out with my king." It's very peculiar. Who would do that? Why would someone do that?

How Do We Honor Our King? How do we honor our King? The people in this story honor their king by subscribing to the protocol of his kingdom. This is my attire. This is the attire of this king's kingdom—jackets, scarves. On this day is the king's feast. You're invited. You have an official invitation. Cool, yeah. You're expected to come. Awesome, let's go. No problem. You pay gratitude and tribute to the king. Why? Because the king offered you a gift and you accepted it. You see, a few weeks ago we spoke about grace in the first century and how the term grace was really redefined during the Reformation period.

The Protestant church, because they wanted to be separate from the Catholic church, even redefined the way they viewed grace. And so we have this idea of grace where it's synonymous with just gift giving. Free, free stuff. In the first century, grace was actually a secular idea. It wasn't a necessarily religious idea. It was a cultural idea. It was a social idea. In Roman culture, you know what the pagans do? Whenever they have a great idea, they make a god out of it. In Egypt, you have justice and righteousness, ethics and morality—weighty matters. Well, we'll make a god out of that. Ma'at, I have a feather, and she's the god of justice.

Well, Rome had a goddess or a deity called the Three Graces to represent grace. And if you Google Three Graces and go to images, you will see three naked women—just so you know, they're statues. And there were these three women that danced together in a circle because they viewed grace as what it was: a patron-client relationship. Everyone know what a patron is? A patron is someone that does something for you that you can never pay back. And if you receive it, you become a client. And as a result of you being a client, you pay gratitude back and honor back to your patron, right? Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Maybe put a sponsorship on your shirt or something. Well, that's what the three graces represented. There were three women and they danced together. And the first woman represented the one who gives a gift. The second woman represents the circle, the fluid circle of grace—the woman who receives the gift. And the third woman in the dance, seamlessly dancing with each other, flawlessly dancing, is the one who pays gratitude back to the first, and it continues this fluid relationship. Notice why Paul talks about ingratitude being such a horrible thing, even above murderers and adulterers. That's what he's talking about: someone who takes a gift and doesn't pay honor and gratitude back to the king.

And so it was a very big deal. We did a teaching on this. I'm not going to go into all of it, but that was the idea of grace and gratitude. And so when the king invited you into his kingdom, you had a choice to get in the chariot or not. And you said, "I will accept this gift from you, O patron of mine." He said, "Awesome, come on, into the kingdom." And when you get to the kingdom, how do you pay gratitude back? You adhere to the protocol, right? It's the king's birthday. We're going to celebrate. I'll show up. The protocol is to wear a jacket, guys. Cool, I love jackets. Women's scarves, I love scarves.

You pay gratitude back. How do we dishonor him? Ingratitude. Ingratitude. See, anyone know Spanish? Okay, we got one, a little bit, a couple. Okay, so it's interesting because apparently there are many different dialects in Spanish-speaking countries, but there's one that's unique, and that is actually in Spain. And apparently they do something a little bit different. You see, they have the C sound, and when the C sound—it can either make a C sound, like in "Rico." And apparently Rico means rich. Is that right? Yeah, maybe, yeah, yeah, okay, I get the nod. "Enrico," right? It's a C and it makes a C sound.

Or you have "vecino." Did I say that correctly? "Vecino" means neighbor, I think, or one you stay with. But notice the C makes an S sound, and that's pretty normal. But in Spain, they don't say the S sound. They have a lisp: "vecino." Why do you have a lisp? We don't know. The rest of the Spanish world does not have a lisp when it says "vecino." Tradition says—I say all this to prove a point—tradition says, and this is folklore, I think, from what I said, tradition says that in Spain they had a great king, and everybody loved their king because the king was righteous and just to the people, and he was the most beloved king that anyone ever had.

And so the people wanted to pay gratitude to the king, and they didn't really know how, because how can a person pay back the king? I mean, they can adhere to the protocols, but we love our king. The king had a lisp. So what did the people do? They did not want their king to feel shame because he was different. And so tradition says that they changed the entire language to reflect that lisp so that they could honor their king. Now, I don't think that's a legitimate story, but that's just what the tradition says. All the same, that's really cool, guys. Would you do that? If the king had a lisp, if Yeshua had a lisp, would you?

Yes, yes, absolutely. I mean, what would we do for our king? What would you give up for your king?

Honoring the King

Our king has a protocol. He has special dates. Leviticus 23:2, I know. "Give the following instructions to the people of Israel." See, what's cool about this is Abraham—Abraham. Galatians . Abraham didn't write any of the New Testament books. Galatians states that if you are in Messiah through his blood, right? Through your shame that was nailed to the cross and his honor that he gives you because he was risen and was declared the son of God— glory, esteemed—and you're under him. Through Messiah, you are Abraham's seed. That's really cool because that means you're a part of the covenant that God made with Abraham.

So Ephesians 2:9 through 14 speaks about—Paul's talking to Ephesus. They're a bunch of goys. They're not Jewish per se. Guys, you were far off. You were far from the covenants of God. You were far from the blessings of God. You were far from the kingdom of Israel. Or in your King James Version, it says the commonwealth of Israel. You were far from that, but through the blood of Christ, you were brought near now. You're brought near to the blessings. You're brought near to the covenants. You're brought near to the relationship. You're brought near to the love. You're brought near to the kingdom of God.

You're in the kingdom, Israel. The Lord said, "Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. These are the Lord's, the king's appointed festivals, which you are to proclaim as official days of holy assembly." In other words, these days listed through Leviticus 23 are God's days. And what does he say? These are when holy assembly should take place. This is when we should come together. Protocol, right? Here we go. Talk about imitating the king. That's Phileo... Matthew. "For I, the Lord... And the one who brought you out of the land of Egypt. I'm the one who brought you out of that land way, way, way, way over there.

And I pulled up with my carriage and I said, 'Hey, if you want to come with me, get in the carriage, you and your family, leave your old life behind and I'll take you to this kingdom.' The Lord's the one who did that. I brought you out of the land of Egypt that I might be your God. Therefore, imitate me. Be holy as I am holy. You see where I'm going with this. Be set apart as I am set apart. You don't wear your same clothes that you did back in Egypt. You don't talk the same way. You don't do the same things that you did in Egypt. You're going to adhere to the protocol of my kingdom because I love you and because I'm giving this free gift to you."

God's Expectations for His People

Isaiah 58. You guys want to read some scripture? Can we read some scripture? I know it's not really popular to read more than three verses in a row because that gets boring apparently, and we're a microwave generation. I'm bored now. We're going to read the entire chapter of Isaiah 58, almost. I'm going to leave out the last part, and you guys have all heard the last part of Isaiah 58, but you've never heard the first part. You know the verse that says, "For if you turn your foot away from doing your own pleasures on my holy day," right? That's Isaiah 58. So we're going to start out in verse 1 and follow along with me.

This is huge because we're going to see what does God want? What is he passionate about? What are the protocols that he finds weightiest in his kingdom? "Shout with the voice of the trumpet blast. Shout aloud. Don't be timid. Tell my people Israel of their sins. Yet they act so pious they come to the temple every day and seem delighted to learn all about me. They act like righteous people that would never abandon the laws of its god. They ask me to take action on their behalf, pretending that they want to be near me. We have fasted before you, they say. Why aren't you impressed, O king? We have been very hard on ourselves and you don't even notice us, great king."

"I will tell you why," I respond. "It's because you are fasting to please yourselves. Even while you fast, you keep oppressing all of your workers and your servants, and you keep oppressing those who are lower than you. What good is fasting when you keep on fighting and quarreling?" Let that one sink in. Division was never part of the plan, guys. Division. Whether it be politics, whether it be your opinion on a Bible verse, whether it be whatever—division was never part of the plan, ever. "How good it is for brothers to dwell together in unity." Why do you think David said that? Why are you quarreling and fighting?

Look at that. You're fasting because of me, yet you're still dividing my kingdom. I gave you guys a charge. He gave us a charge, right? Go out, teach all nations, gather those exiles, build up my kingdom. And we build up the kingdom, and then we're like, "Yeah, I don't agree with you." And the kingdom divides, and the kingdom divides, and the kingdom divides. Who will fight beside you when that day comes, if that day comes, when we need to fight together? I love using this metaphor because I totally see it happening if a force comes in and they're attacking Hebrew roots or believers and I'm in a trench fighting, and someone runs in the trench beside me.

Yes, brother, believer in Yeshua, strength and honor. Let's go. Wait, wait, wait, wait. What calendar do you follow? Whoa, you have your Zitio tied Sephardic and not Ashkenazi. I've actually never heard division caused by Zitio, but you see the point. Really?

They're either going to kill us together or they're going to kill us apart, but we might as well put up a fight in numbers. I digress.

The True Meaning of Fasting

This kind of fasting will never get you anywhere with me, says God. You humble yourselves by going through the motions of penance, bowing your heads like reeds bending in the wind. You dress in burlap and cover yourselves with ashes. Is this what you call fasting? I'm hungry. What do you want? Do you really think this will please Yahweh, your king? No, this is the kind of fasting I want. Free those who are wrongly imprisoned. Lighten the burden on those who work for you. Let the oppressed go free and remove the chains that bind people. Share your food with the hungry and give shelter to the homeless.

Give clothes to those who need them and do not hide from relatives who need your help. This chapter is talking about Yom Kippur, by the way. That's the whole context of this chapter. Then your salvation will come like the dawn and your wounds will quickly heal. Your godliness will lead you forward and the glory of the Lord will protect you from behind. Let your light shine. That's what Yeshua said, right? Don't muffle your light. The rest of the chapter goes, if you turn your foot away from your own doing, your own pleasures, and my holy day, and so on and so forth, talking about the Sabbath. When you study that verse and chapter, it seems to be pointing to Yom Kippur.

Regardless, these are the works of our king. You're fasting ashes. Oh God, I'm hungry. I'm fasting for you. It's not about what we think, guys. It's about what he thinks. There's a big topic.

Justice and Righteousness

Those of you who know Rico Cortez, he really spearheaded this topic about a year ago over at wisdommator.com. He's been teaching ever since. Righteousness and justice. Justice and righteousness. If you're looking to buy a new car, let's say a Volkswagen Rabbit or a new Honda, and then when you're driving around thinking about it, all you see on the road is that specific car. Well, there's another one. There's another one. Oh, that's blue. It's yellow. It's white. Oh, rims. Cool. You get excited because you see it a lot. Justice and righteousness. If you search this word, you will see it everywhere in Scripture. The prophets say, when God speaks, he says, justice and righteousness are the foundation of my throne. That's the very thing that my throne stands on. That's what I sit on. That's what holds my glory up is justice and righteousness.

What is it? Matthew 23, 23, Yeshua is talking and he says, "'What sorrow awaits you teachers of righteous law "'and you Pharisees, you hypocrites? "'For you are careful to tithe "'even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, "'but you ignore the more important aspects of the Torah, "'justice, mercy, and faith. "'You should tithe, yes, "'but do not neglect the more important things of the Torah.'" What he's talking about is, remember, the tribute offerings used to come three times a year at the three tribute feasts. First Fruit, Shavuot, and Sukkot. And it wasn't money. You didn't give 10% of your money. You gave 10% of your income, which was agricultural. So the Pharisees, man, they had their little scissors out there, and they had their herb gardens, and weighing it. That's one-tenth right there. Look at me. Good job. He didn't even say good job. But what are you doing? Where is your heart?

The Foundation of Kings

See, justice and righteousness is a term used in the Near East broadly for Egypt, Mesopotamia, up in Anatolia, Hattusa, Acadia, Babylon. When a new king would come into power, he was inaugurated, the first thing he would do, from what we read, is he would let the captives free. He would expunge all records of debt. Wouldn't that be great? Every four years, your credit cards, not here. Why did the king do this? Well, for the most part, it was a pretty good thing. I mean, the people would love him for it, right? But that was how he showed the people his justice and righteousness. He would restore debts.

He would give honor to those who were neglected. He would take care of the poor, take care of the orphans, the widows, generally over Mesopotamia. So this is why David... Second Samuel it states that David reigned all over Israel and David administered justice and righteousness for all his people. And here in Hebrew roots, you know, we're always like we're righteousness. That's the Torah. David was keeping Shabbat. Yeah, but there was more to it. You see, David reigned with justice and righteousness. He fed the hungry, he clothed the naked, he put shelter over the homeless as king.

Following Yeshua

And if anyone serves me, he must follow me. And where I am, there my master will be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. So we're supposed to follow Yeshua. Or Matt, that just sounds churchy. Maybe that's something they got right. We're supposed to follow Yeshua, And remember, following Yeshua means your honor goes away. You have no earthly glory. Your glory doesn't matter anymore because your glory never got you anywhere to begin with. Dead weight. Drop it off. Someone wants to try to shame you? Let him shame you. What is earthly shame? It doesn't matter. Whatever we spoke about—when Yeshua was talking about someone slaps you or backhands you, you're supposed to turn the other cheek.

Keep on. What do you want to do, shame me some more? He talks about if an evil person charges you and sues you for your cloak, you should give them your shirt. But it's really your undergarment—the layer that you wore. Your shoes, what do you want? Don't even play the game because it's not about you, it's about him. And what's Yeshua say? If you follow me, if you serve me, you're going to receive honor from my father. Now that's an honor that unfortunately is not recognized on earth. It's stored in heaven. That's the treasure stored in heaven. You ever wonder why Yeshua did all those great things? Why didn't Yeshua just establish himself as king?

Angels, you ready? Get them. All right. Just come on, just skip the whole riding lowly on the donkey and come on the clouds. Boom. He needed to show. He needed to take our shame away and establish his honor with a righteous act. Why do you think he didn't come to rule over the people? What did he do? Healed the sick. Healed the blind. The lame walked. They danced. That's what Yeshua did. Hung out with poor folk. Even hung out with the Samaritans for a short while. That's who he was after.

The Weight of Confession

Romans 10. You guys know this. You're familiar with this, right? If you declare with your mouth, Yeshua is king and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you know why that's so important? Because when Yeshua died on a stake, that was a shameful way to die. You're on a stake, on a tree, right? We discussed that in depth last week. Scripture says that he was declared the son of God at the resurrection. Why? Because son of God is a synonym for king, right? The king that has the authority of God, and the king is an honorable position. So Yeshua died a shameful death and God rose him from the dead. Why is it important that God rose him from the dead? Because that means he's in a status of honor now. That's why that's exciting. He took shame and God turned it into honor. So if you declare with your mouth that Yeshua is your king and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead—that's very key because of that—you will be saved.

For it is with our heart that you believe and are justified, and with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. As Scripture says, anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame. That's a quote from the Septuagint, Isaiah 28, talking about the cornerstone. You will never be put to shame when you put your faith in him. Not in his kingdom. Awesome. Confess with your mouth. The Greek for confess is hamilegeo, I believe is how you pronounce it. It means to declare an oath with your mouth. It's not just saying in church, come on up and just say these words and you'll be saved. Possibly, but in the Greek, it's something much more weighty.

It's an oath. It's literally a covenant that you make with your mouth. Remember when you got married, if you've been married? I do. That wasn't just some words you spoke. That was a big commitment, right? For those of us who made that oath, we have a marriage contract that we fill out for the government, but that's not what established we're married. The marriage is from the oath. Not even consummation. I know that's taught. No, that didn't establish marriage. It's when the covenant was made between man and woman. Whether through an arranged marriage, when the husband paid the bride price, right? Or when you said your vows.

That heavy. If you state an oath with your mouth that you believe Yeshua is king, it's a big deal. Sorry, that's a big weighty verse for me. So what does it mean to be a follower of Yeshua? You see, this is what I was alluding to just a few minutes ago.

What It Means to Follow Your King

Come on back. Come on back. What does it mean to be a follower of Yeshua? Because remember, we were speaking about what would you do for your king? What would you do for your king if he allowed you in the kingdom? Would you scrub toilets? This would be real. Would you? Yeah. Rub gloves. Let's go. Would you wear certain clothes? Well, yeah. I accepted the gift of the kingdom. I mean, I'm starving out there. He's giving me food. He's giving me shelter. He's giving me protection. He's a very just king, a righteous king. He treats the poor good here. He's the greatest king ever. Of course, I'll wear a jacket.

I'll wear a robe. Would you fight for him? Yeah, of course I would. If he asked you for your life, would you give it to him? We have historical records of great kings in the past—the great Khan. Would you kill yourself? Where does your loyalty stand? The samurai—what was their code of honor? Bishuto? Pillars of honor that they would take. Bishuto? Bishuto. Bishuto. And if they did something that put shame on the kingdom—let's say you were fighting for your tribe and you lost the battle and you ran away. You came back. You ran from battle. Yes, I lost. I'm sorry. All right. You know what's next. Sapuko.

Sapuko? Really? Do I have to? Sapuko? Yeah, you could run away, but no—your honor still lies with your tribe, with your clan. So you take a knife in front of your masters and you would stick it in and you would kill yourself. Would you do that for your king? Man, this is uncomfortable. Our king would never ask us to give up our lives. He says, guys, if you're going to follow me, you better get comfortable carrying that cross. You better get real comfortable. Because not only are you going to be shamed in the world, they're going to try to kill you. Because we know that all the apostles got rich because of the message of Yeshua and they went out and they were popular and they were well-esteemed, right?

Every one of them died a gruesome death, and they were proud of it. What would you do for your king? You guys realize that in the kingdom, it is an honor-shame culture, and so even amongst us brethren, others don't matter. How the world views us doesn't matter, okay? You guys in the back, you guys in the front, guys over here—you are my brothers and sisters. We are one, right? My honor and shame amongst you is what counts. I don't ever want to do anything that brings shame to you.

We're All in the Same Boat

You see, remember when David took a census? How many died? It's like tens of thousands of people died because he took a census incorrectly. Some would say in our culture, "That's innocent people dying." But in that culture, it was an honor-shame, it was a collectivistic culture. One person could impact everybody by doing one thing. I don't like collectivistic culture. But I do, because that's how Yeshua works. But here's the thing. As believers, right? You ever wonder why Scripture and Leviticus is so insistent? I'm like, listen: if you see your brother in sin, go and try to get him to stop. It's not supposed to be going up to him with a bat—"I caught you.

I caught you sinning." No, you're supposed to be a brother. You need to be careful because what you're doing can impact me and my family and all the other families in this household. See, we're all part of the same boat, There's a story that the rabbis tell, and it talks about a man being in the boat, and a couple people in the boat look over, and he's drilling a hole in the boat. And his cabin—what are you doing, sir? Stop it. Get out of my cabin. This is my space. If I want to drill a hole in my space, I'll drill a hole in my space. You get out of here. This is my doing. It didn't affect you.

Everything You Do Impacts the Body

This is why sin is so dangerous for believers. Because when we walk, we should realize that it's not just us that we're affecting. You have no more privacy anymore. Not that you ever did. But once you became a believer in the kingdom, you thought the Patriot Act was bad. Once you became a believer in the kingdom, right—imagine heaven's security cameras on you all the time. Everything you do, everywhere you walk, everything you say. When you walk down the hallway at work and you start gossiping about other believers to your friends, cameras are rolling. When you see someone in need on the side of the road, or someone falls in front of you—anyone see that YouTube video going around where the guy dressed up as a homeless guy and he would fall in front of people and no one helped him?

If someone falls in front of you and you neglect them because, "Oh, poor"—cameras are rolling. When you lie or you gossip or you steal or you lust with your eyes, cameras are rolling. And so what this does is it doesn't just impact you. It impacts the entire body, because we're all connected, remember? Fingers, ears, toes. That's why it states if a brother continues in his sin, you cut him off. Because if you get gangrene in your pinky toe, you need to cut it off or else it'll kill the heart. That's collectivistic. So what would you do for your king? Now, back it up just a little bit. Does a little bit of allegiance sound so bad?

In contrast, does a little bit of adhering to protocol of your king sound so bad? Your king says, "Go feed the hungry." He's not telling you to —he's telling you to go feed the hungry. Why is he telling you to go feed the hungry? Because you're an emissary and you're an ambassador of the king. And whatever you do is in the name of the king, because everything you do now is in the name of the king.

Our Honor and Shame

Every decision you make with your finances, every single decision you make with what you do with your life, with what you look at, with how you raise your kids, with how you treat your spouse—everything you do is now a reflection of the king you serve, because you're an emissary of Messiah. You understand? Will this change the way we walk? Honor and shame, right? We talked about losing face. Brad, I talk to you all the time. We're shaking hands. If you're ever contracting, right? You ever shake hands with someone and make a deal and they don't keep their end of the deal? They've lost face. That's what that is.

We have a lot of responsibility as heirs in the kingdom, guys. We have a lot of responsibility. It's time that we come together and lean on each other and encourage each other, because we're all in the same boat. We're trying not to poke holes in it. We're trying to strengthen it. We're trying to fill it up. We're trying to make it stronger. That's what our mandate is. Sorry, that was just a little bit sidetracked. Do you guys have time for one more quick story? One more quick story. And it was quiet. Darn, I put everyone to sleep. So we speak about honor and shame, right? The last two weeks, those of you here, you understand the concept.

And it's a very big concept because it can still apply in our lives today with the way we speak. When we bring shame upon ourselves or our family or our households, or honor to our king, in every step that we take. That's why it's important—if someone challenges you on Facebook—not to go berserk. I've been there. I can talk about us. I've been there. I wanted to be right more than I did strengthen the kingdom of my king. And that is a bad priority to have. But I'm right, and I want to beat this guy into the ground with the truth. See, everyone's laughing because they know what I'm talking about. Yeah, you've been there.

A Story of Shame and Restoration

He didn't make all things clear. When you beat someone so far down on the ground with the truth, they can never come up and learn it. So Luke 15 is a story, and you've heard it about the prodigal son. And this was a revelation to me. It's Luke 15, 11 through 32. Can we read a little bit? Three people are with me. Everyone else? So there once was a man who had two sons, right? And he was a wealthy man. And the younger one said to his father, "Father, give me my share of the estate." Because most of the time it was property. Give me my share of the estate. So the father divided his property between them.

Now we read that and we think that's no big deal. But guys, that was a shameful thing for that son to do. Can you imagine if those of you who have a will written out, can you imagine if one of your living kids came to you and said, "Hey, I want what's owed to me after you die. Now. What? What?" This is a slap in the face. This little kid—what's the father do? He divides it. Fine, son. Here you go. Not long after that, the younger son got together with all he had and set off for the distant country, and there he squandered his wealth. You see, so the land was divided, the estate was divided. Most likely there was land involved, Matt's opinion.

And so the son would have had to sell the land that was just his father's to get this wealth and everything else his father gave him. And he went off to a foreign country and he squandered it all. Party, Vegas. See, a son carries his father's name and his father's honor.

After he had spent everything he had, there was a severe famine in the whole country, and he had begun to be in need. You see, he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, and they sent him to the fields to feed the pigs.

The Prodigal's Desperation

He longed to fill his stomach with the pods of the pigs that they were eating, but no one would give him anything. Pigs had more than he had. He had a lot of honor when he left, didn't he? "I'm in the money!" His honor is not so weighty anymore. When he came to his senses, he said, "How many of my father's hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death? I will set out and go back to my father and say to him, 'Father, I have sinned against you!' Along with heaven, I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants." What that's called? It's called humility. His son dropped his pride. Any honor his son may have had left, gone, nothing. I'm not even my father's son anymore. Hopefully he'll hire me back as a servant. Maybe he'll let me clean the toilet to the stalls, something. I won't even be considered a son anymore because I already took his inheritance. I already took the honor that was due to me and I trashed it.

The Father Sees

So he got up and he went to his father. But while he was still a long way away, his father saw him and filled with compassion for him, he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. So imagine you leave your country, your village. Bye guys, I'm going and I'm leaving with all this money, right? Pretty full of yourself. You look good. You look good. And then his son's going to come back and he's going to walk through that same village. He's going to walk through with rags. He's going to walk through with pig feces on him. He's going to walk through bones and skin starving. Shame. He will be shamed when he walks back through his town. That's why his father had compassion on him when he saw him a long way off. See, in the Near East, it was very uncommon for anyone over 25 to ever run. It's a sign of wisdom. You walk, walking, walking, walking. You walk it out, per se. It's almost a shameful thing to see an elderly man run. What are you doing? You lose face. His father didn't care.

The Father's Shameful Race

His father did not want his son's shame to be brought up amongst all the people. So his father ran to his son. His father ran through the village in front of everyone, girding his skirt up. He probably forgot how to do it. Son, come to me. And he grabbed his son and he hugged him and he kissed him. And he walked with his son back through the village, back before everybody, in front of all the prying eyes. So his father took his son's shame upon him, you see. The son said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. But the father said to his servants, quick, bring the best robe, put it on him. Put the ring on his finger, put sandals on his feet, bring the fatted calf, kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate this day.

Repentance and Restoration

You see, his son bore shame. His son brought shame to his household and his son repented. See where I'm going with this? His son repented and his son was humbled. And so his son came back to his father. Father, I am so sorry. I've sinned against you. I was wrong. I wronged you. Please, can I just come back in your house? You know that clothing was a sign of status, right? Honor, Joseph, sandals, a ring on his finger, a signet. Through his son's repentant shame and humility, his father raised him back up to honor. Oh, it gets better. For this son of mine was dead and is made alive. He was lost and is found. So they began to celebrate. My son, you are back. Meanwhile, the older brother was in the field.

The Older Son's Refusal

See, this is typically where we stop the story and we don't really read any further because what's next doesn't really matter. Meanwhile, the older son was in the field and when he came near to the house, he heard music and dancing. What in the world? So he called one of his servants and asked, hey, what's going on? Your brother has come home, he replied, and your father has killed the fatted calf because he came back safe and sound. The older brother became angry and refused to go into the party. So his father went out and pleaded with him. Not many people realize the older son shamed his father severely right now. Your father's hosting a party and you refuse to enter? Refusing an invitation is one thing, but being invited and knowing that you have a spot at the table and then refusing to go in, you're shaming the host.

The Father Pleads

Father, same thing. Left his own party. Shame. Shameful. You lose your seat of honor when you leave your own party, you see. His father left the party on account of his son. Son, please come back inside. Son, please, come on. Please come back. But he answered his father, "Look, all these years I have been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders, yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when the son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fatted calf for him?" "My son," the father said, "you are always with me and everything I have is yours. You're already here. You're already part of this kingdom. Everything's always been yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad because this brother of yours was dead and is alive. He was lost and is found.

Witness to the King's Love

You wonder why it's so important to witness to other people, something that we really don't do a lot in Hebrew Roots. I don't know why. Because we have this love and we have this honor from our God, and it's not ours. It's ours to spread and it's ours to tell others, listen, I'm an ambassador for the king and he says he wants you in his kingdom. Won't you come? John 1, 12, yet to all who did receive him, speaking of Yeshua, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become the children of God. Now, you have the right to—no, it's a synonym for honor. You are bestowed the honor to now become the son of God because he wants you. You were lost and you were found and the father wants you back with him.

The Wedding Parable

Oh, do we have time? Yeah, we got time. I want to read one last story to you real quick. Is that okay? Is this okay? Matthew 22, starting in verse 11, Yeshua's making parables and he speaks about a wedding. And maybe some of these elements of honor or shame, maybe you can spot them now. Yeshua spoke to them again in parables, saying, "The kingdom of heaven is like a king who has prepared a wedding banquet. You can imagine. He's prepared this wedding banquet for his son of all people. Honor, shame? Which one is it? Shame. The servants turned their backs and they're like, no, we don't want to come to your wedding. Then he sent some more servants and said, Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner. My oxen and fatted cattle have been butchered and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet. Send the messengers out. The food is ready. Their seats are ready. Please come. But they paid no attention and went off, one to his field, another to his business. They didn't care.

Those Invited Refuse

The rest of them seized the king's servants, mistreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged by this. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burnt their whole city down. You don't shame the king, especially if you're in the kingdom, you see. These weren't some foreigners. These were people invited. They were in the kingdom. You do not shame the king when you accepted his invitation. What's the king do? Then he said to his servants, the wedding banquet is ready. I'm not canceling this, but those I invited did not deserve to come. So go to the street corners, invite to the banquet anyone you find.

So the servants went out into the streets and gathered together the people they could find, both bad as well as good people. Everybody gets an invitation. Are you going to accept it? Most people don't realize that we like to think that we're all high and mighty and righteous because we do the Sabbath and we don't eat pork and we keep the feast days and everything. But guys, we are not saved because we are good. We are good because we are saved, you see. We pay gratitude back to the king for his gift of salvation. I'm getting off the story.

All Are Invited

So everybody is invited and the wedding hall was filled with guests. Yes, I accept the invitation. I want to come in. I want to come in. But when the king came in to see the guests, everyone noticed, and he noticed a man there that was not wearing wedding clothes. Now, this may not be a big deal. Maybe this guy just didn't have any clothes. That's debatable. Some commentators say that wedding garments, cloaks, or something were handed out to all the guests coming in. Regardless, if you're invited to a wedding, do you wear shorts and a t-shirt and flip-flops? You tend to dress up a little bit. I mean, if it's a casual wedding, you might wear some jeans, nice slacks, or something nice. But you certainly don't show up to a tuxedo, black tie wedding with flip-flops on and shorts, right? Is that an honorable thing to do, or is that a shameful thing to do? Who is it shameful toward?

The Unchosen Guest

So what does the king do? The king sees this guy here, and he's underdressed for the occasion. See, the invitation goes out to everybody, and the Greek word here for chosen is very interesting because it could indicate to be chosen, or it could indicate to choose. And so some believe that this verse, verse 14, could say, for many are invited, but few choose. It's debatable. There is a debate on it.

No Respect for the King

It's debatable. Regardless, the invitations were handed out. This man accepted the invitation and said yes, I want this invitation. And he came to the wedding. He was now a client to the patron. I'm just here for the food, guys. Had no respect for the king. He did not pay gratitude. Remember the three graces? That third girl was missing.

Paul talks a lot about this. Aristotle, Plutarch, Pluto, Philo—they all talk about this scenario of accepting something from a patron and not paying back gratitude, and how these are scum of the earth, worse than murderers. Hebrews talks about you trodden underfoot the blood of the covenant. This man that was thrown out was in the kingdom. He accepted the invitation, yet he didn't feel like he had to adhere to what the king's honor was. And he was thrown out.

God's Free Gift

We're to live a life of God's honor and not our own. We spoke about this last week heavily. The message here is that God has a free gift for us. You see, through Adam, according to scripture, the entire world was shamed and shame came into the world. We inherited the shame of our fathers, the reputation of our fathers, and we were separated from the honor of God. We were kicked out of the house, if you will. Now, God the Father wanted you back in his household. And isn't it amazing to know that there is a king that would want you back in his household and he would stop at nothing, not even his own son?

He sent his son to take your shame and to reestablish his son in an honorable position to the right of his throne. He raised him from the dead. And he says, hey, listen guys, collectivistic—this can't affect you if you want it to. Through my son, he's going to be king over you. Will you serve him? And do you believe that he has the honor that's given to him by me because I rose from the dead? If you would like—and I so hope you do—all you got to do is follow my son because he has my seal. He has my blessing. I gave him his honor and I will honor you too if you cast your honor aside and follow him. That's exciting, guys. It's very exciting.

You've Got to Get Along

And there's a thing. Once you come into this kingdom, you've got to get along. We read Proverbs last week. You guys remember lots of Proverbs. You've got to get along because you're brothers and sisters in the kingdom. And you're not supposed to shame each other. You're supposed to lift each other up. But I don't like him. That's fine, but you've got to love him. You've got to treat each other as emissaries. You've got to treat each other as soldiers in arms because that's what this is. And if you do this, there will be great reward for you. You will never be put to shame in my kingdom. You will be favored. Okay?

My great king, I wish to serve you. Your son is my king. My shame is no more. And you know what? Whatever glory I have on earth is done away. I don't care about it. I want your glory. I don't care what the world thinks. I want to serve you. How do I serve you? You keep my commandments and you stay loyal to my kingdom.

Feed the Hungry, Clothe the Naked

What are your commandments? Sabbath, kosher eating, feast days. Feed the hungry. Clothe the naked. Treat the poor with respect because—guess what?—see, in a class system, the poor are neglected because they're not as good as the rich, because the rich are honorable people. Guess what? You gave up your honor on earth a long time ago. Guess which group you're in? You should be hanging out with the poor, and you should tell them how they can gain honor—not in this world, but the next, in my kingdom. There's more to God's kingdom than you and me, so I cry. That's why Paul says, "It is not me that lives, but Messiah in me." It's not who I am. It doesn't matter. Me doesn't matter anymore. It is him. If we choose to follow our king, we may very well give up everything, but we will gain everything. That's what I look forward to, and I want to encourage you with that.

Open Your Hearts to the Poor

I want to encourage you to open your hearts to the poor, because those are the way to your matters. That's number one. That's what his throne is established on. Everything else— awesome. Kingdom protocol. We need to start doing more for the people that God told us to do more for. Hence, we're starting with sending a care package to orphans and elderly and poor in Costa Rica. So I would encourage every one of you: please bring something for children who have no parents, for children that we are commanded to take care of.