Wednesday, 13 March 2024

The Upper Room Discourse 78

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John 17:16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.

Yeshua is making a statement. His statement is in the form of a prayer. As is true of all prayer, Yeshua's prayer is directed to God, however; we are actively listening as part of the conversation. While Yeshua is telling God that both He and we are not of this world, He is also telling us, so don't miss it.

Rabbi Trail: One other thought before we dive into the implications of living "not of this world." Prepositions are interesting. We frequently use them interchangeably. In our routine communication, "of" easily gets mixed with "in, about, because, and from." However; we must believe that Yeshua prayed His word choice "of this world" with intentionality. End RT.

This world has expectations and those who are "of this world" live accordingly. Basically, the expectation of this world is that everyone will be out for himself/herself. The world teaches survival of the fittest. Hillel, well known Jewish sage en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillel_the_Elder, is quoted, "If I am not for me, who will be for me?" He is setting up a false "me first" narrative.

Rabbi Trail: To Hillel's credit, he went on to say, "If I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?" While Hillel includes loving others, he doesn't put love of others ahead of love of self, as Yeshua does. John 13:34 I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, so also you must love one another. And I couple that with this ... John 15:13 No one has greater love than this: that he lay down his life for his friends. End RT.

When we are born from above, everything changes. 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if anyone is in Messiah, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. This describes radical change for those "in Messiah." Being "in Messiah" requires no longer being "of this world." Bottom line, if we are no longer of this world, we should stop trying to act like it. Yeshua is speaking, are we listening?