So I was speaking with someone near and dear to me and was told this statement, "So anyone who does this (Follows Torah) has to change their whole life?" At the time my response was pretty dumb founded, after all this was coming from a Christian. With some thought I've decided that this really does need to be an extended answer, summed up in another question.
Shouldn't ALL Christianity be Life Changing?
Yeshua says in Matthew 10:38, 38 And anyone who does not take up his execution-stake and follow me is not worthy of me. Should that not worry you? What about 2 Corinthians 5:17, 17 Therefore, if anyone is united with the Messiah, he is a new creation — the old has passed; look, what has come is fresh and new! The old shouldn't even be remaining, we are new! This is a huge change and if it isn't has the old passed away for you at all?
Let's look at some of the Apostles and Disciples of Yeshua shall we? Let's check out the biggest life change first, Paul. Acts 9:1-22 say, Meanwhile, Sha’ul, still breathing murderous threats against the Lord’s talmidim (disciples), went to the cohen hagadol (high priest)2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Dammesek (Damaskus), authorizing him to arrest any people he might find, whether men or women, who belonged to “the Way,” and bring them back to Yerushalayim (Jerusalem).
3 He was on the road and nearing Dammesek, when suddenly a light from heaven flashed all around him. 4 Falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Sha’ul (Saul)! Sha’ul! Why do you keep persecuting me?”5 “Sir, who are you?” he asked. “I am Yeshua, and you are persecuting me. 6 But get up, and go into the city, and you will be told what you have to do.”
7 The men traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. 8 They helped Sha’ul get up off the ground; but when he opened his eyes, he could see nothing. So, leading him by the hand, they brought him into Dammesek. 9 For three days he remained unable to see, and he neither ate nor drank.
10 There was a talmid in Dammesek, Hananyah by name; and in a vision the Lord said to him, “Hananyah!” He said, “Here I am, Lord.” 11 The Lord said to him, “Get up and go to Straight Street, to Y’hudah’s house; and ask for a man from Tarsus named Sha’ul; for he is praying, 12 and in a vision he has seen a man named Hananyah coming in and placing his hands on him to restore his sight.” 13 But Hananyah answered, “Lord, many have told me about this man, how much harm he has done to your people in Yerushalayim; 14 and here he has a warrant from the head cohanim to arrest everyone who calls on your name.” 15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, because this man is my chosen instrument to carry my name to the Goyim, even to their kings, and to the sons of Isra’el as well. 16 For I myself will show him how much he will have to suffer on account of my name.”
17 So Hananyah left and went into the house. Placing his hands on him, he said, “Brother Sha’ul, the Lord — Yeshua, the one who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here — has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Ruach HaKodesh.” 18 In that moment, something like scales fell away from Sha’ul’s eyes; and he could see again. He got up and was immersed; 19 then he ate some food and regained his strength.
Sha’ul spent some days with the talmidim in Dammesek, 20 and immediately he began proclaiming in the synagogues that Yeshua is the Son of God. 21 All who heard him were amazed. They asked, “Isn’t he the man who in Yerushalayim was trying to destroy the people who call on this name? In fact, isn’t that why he came here, to arrest them and bring them back to the head cohanim?” 22 But Sha’ul was being filled with more and more power and was creating an uproar among the Jews living in Dammesek with his proofs that Yeshua is the Messiah. WHOA! Isn't that a major life change? To go from rounding them up to kill them to change to preaching the Messiah? That's pretty major of a change. Or how about Simon, Andrew, James and John? Matthew 4:18-22 says, 18 As Yeshua walked by Lake Kinneret, he saw two brothers who were fishermen — Shim‘on (Simon), known as Kefa (Peter), and his brother Andrew — throwing their net into the lake. 19 Yeshua said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers for men!” 20 At once they left their nets and went with him.
21 Going on from there, he saw two other brothers — Ya’akov Ben-Zavdai (James son of Zebedee) and Yochanan (John) his brother — in the boat with their father Zavdai (Zebedee), repairing their nets; and he called them. 22 At once they left the boat and their father and went with Yeshua. Isn't that a life change? To be fishermen and drop everything at a moments notice, not even to let their families know, and follow Christ without question?
But, you might say, they where Apostles! Not me! So while I've already pointed you to 2 Corinthians 5:17 let's now turn to Luke 13:3 which says, 3 No, I tell you. Rather, unless you turn to God from your sins, you will all die as they did! We must turn from that old life, and to Elohim. Leaving that old Life behind, for if we don't we have not truly turned to God! 1 John 5:3 is so blunt as to say, 3 For loving God means obeying his commands. Moreover, his commands are not burdensome, Romans12:2 also says, 2 In other words, do not let yourselves be conformed to the standards of the ‘olam hazeh (this world). Instead, keep letting yourselves be transformed by the renewing of your minds; so that you will know what God wants and will agree that what he wants is good, satisfying and able to succeed. This point is reiterated in Yeshua's words in Matthew 7:21-23, 21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, only those who do what my Father in heaven wants. 22 On that Day, many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord! Didn’t we prophesy in your name? Didn’t we expel demons in your name? Didn’t we perform many miracles in your name?’ 23 Then I will tell them to their faces, ‘I never knew you! Get away from me, you workers of lawlessness!’[Pslam 6:9(8)] Does that sound to you like you shouldn't change? We can prophess his name, we can even do works in his name, producing some 'fruit' that is not truly of him and thus not good fruit. He will send away those who are not obedient to him! Those who have not turned to him to follow him in what he has told us to do. He also makes comments like in John 15:2, 2 Every branch which is part of me but fails to bear fruit, he cuts off; and every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes, so that it may bear more fruit. and in Matthew 7:19, 19 Any tree that does not produce good fruit is cut down and thrown in the fire! So we definitely need to be producing good fruit, which is a change from producing bad or no fruit. Again a change that needs to be done within us if we are saved.
John 15:8 says, 8 This is how my Father is glorified — in your bearing much fruit; this is how you will prove to be my talmidim (disciples). So bearing good fruit is integral to our faith in Adonai, it's how we are identified an glorify him! So what then is good fruit? Colossians 1:10 says, 10 so that you may live lives worthy of the Lord and entirely pleasing to him, being fruitful in every good work and multiplying in the full knowledge of God. Making it clear that fruit comes of our works, our actions and in seeking out knowledge of Elohim, in trying to please him. James 2:14-16 says, 14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone claims to have faith but has no actions to prove it? Is such “faith” able to save him? 15 Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food, 16 and someone says to him, “Shalom (Peace)! Keep warm and eat hearty!” without giving him what he needs, what good does it do? So while works are Not a method to salvation they very much Are how we show our salvation and love for God, the by product of our salvation if you will. The works are the evidence of the faith, and by very definition it is then a change in you from your Faith to show these works!
So for any Christian to make a comment that following Torah is more life changing than they'd desire to do, is not Christianity at it's core meant to change your life and make you a new creation?
So with that stated let us have a quick look at if these changes really are as intimidating as many believe them to be. The first big one people struggle with is the dietary laws, "We love Bacon!". Sorry, but bacon is bad for you, everyone knows that. We can not properly digest pork fat and so it bonds to our own fats, and pork fat is where all the toxins a pig eats get stored since they can't sweat them out. And God has a design for you for your best, so why are you refusing to obey when he is trying to help you and guide you?
Let me interject on this line of thought to hit what I know many are saying in their heads at this point, But if we obey One Law we have to Obey them all! James 2:10, 10 For a person who keeps the whole Torah, yet stumbles at one point, has become guilty of breaking them all. Ladies and Gentlemen, followers of the Messiah, need I remind you that this is the very reason we need Salvation? The very reason that Christ died on the cross for us? Because we can not follow them all, and that is the whole reason we have been given the Holy Spirit! Ezekiel 16:27 says, I will put my Spirit inside you and cause you to live by my laws, respect my rulings and obey them. So if we are not to obey God's perfect Law (Psalms 119) then why do we even have the Ruach HaKodesh? And then comes Galatians 3:10, 10 For everyone who depends on legalistic observance of Torah commands lives under a curse, since it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not keep on doing everything written in the Scroll of the Torah.”(Dueteronomy 27:26)[a] But look closer at this, the Legalistic Observance of the Torah. Not Observance itself! In fact, this passage is a quote off of Dueteronomy within it, and do you really think that anywhere in a book of the Torah itself it is saying not to follow those Laws that Elohim has given?
So back on track we go. The dietary law isn't even that much of a change. Found in Leviticus 11 what it basically sums up to is that land animals must have cloven hooves and chew the cud, so rabbit, pigs and the like are out. Beef, wild game and such are still valid options. Pork is the hardest change for most people. For Birds, no predatory birds, well guess what? Nobody eats them anyways! So no change needed. So lets look at animals in the water, they have to have fins and scales, so no shark, no shellfish, no bottom feeder fish. Do we really want to be putting those toxins into our bodies anyway considering what all of these animals eat? What about Plants? Again, our culture doesn't eat what is forbidden anyways, so no issue. And there's restrictions on bugs... but in our culture it isn't an issue. You can eat things like grasshoppers and locust though if you're curious. So is this really a big change? To eat things that are good for you and not eat things that can harm your body?
Alright, now on to the next Big change, the Holy Days. This is the one that is the most life changing, as it changes your whole schedule throughout the year. You now go from celebrating Christmas and Easter, to, on other dates, Passover (The crucifixion), Unleavened Bread (burial), First Fruits (resurrection), Pentecost (Holy Spirit coming), Trumpets (Christ's birthday, and prophesied second coming), Atonement (Judgement Day), and Tabernacles (Millennial Kingdom). And that's before you decide if you're going to do Hannukah (Bible in a week) and Purim (Queen Ester). For more about each of these I am doing a series that you can find Here and for more info on the date of Yeshua's birth you can find that Here.
For simplification you have the eight days around Passover in which no bread with yeast can be in the home and you have a feast on the Passover day with the Seder, a feast on First Fruits with the Afikoman, and a feast on the last day celebrating that you can have bread again the day after. A lot of cooking and treats, but since when is that a bad thing? Between Passover and Pentecost you have a time where you count the days, half a second of each day for that, not a big change. Pentecost comes and it's a day of Rest and celebration! Not an issue, party and food! Then you get the day of Trumpets, the real Christmas, the day of Yeshua's birth! Party and food! Then comes the day of Atonement, it is a sadder day, and the one day that we are to fast. It is meant that we will atone for the wrongs the past year, make things right with people who we may still have issues with. Is it not good to do this on a regular basis? And then comes Tabernacles. This is the BIG one. Eight days of celebration and little work, where we are Biblically mandated to be in temporary housing as the Tabernacle was a temporary structure and the millennial reign will have an end before all Paradise. For some this is hard to grasp, if they aren't outdoorsy or lack funds. But why not stay with family or friends? Have a cheaper option available than travel and hotels. For us, being outdoorsy, this means a mandatory camping trip and I'm not about to complain!
For simplification you have the eight days around Passover in which no bread with yeast can be in the home and you have a feast on the Passover day with the Seder, a feast on First Fruits with the Afikoman, and a feast on the last day celebrating that you can have bread again the day after. A lot of cooking and treats, but since when is that a bad thing? Between Passover and Pentecost you have a time where you count the days, half a second of each day for that, not a big change. Pentecost comes and it's a day of Rest and celebration! Not an issue, party and food! Then you get the day of Trumpets, the real Christmas, the day of Yeshua's birth! Party and food! Then comes the day of Atonement, it is a sadder day, and the one day that we are to fast. It is meant that we will atone for the wrongs the past year, make things right with people who we may still have issues with. Is it not good to do this on a regular basis? And then comes Tabernacles. This is the BIG one. Eight days of celebration and little work, where we are Biblically mandated to be in temporary housing as the Tabernacle was a temporary structure and the millennial reign will have an end before all Paradise. For some this is hard to grasp, if they aren't outdoorsy or lack funds. But why not stay with family or friends? Have a cheaper option available than travel and hotels. For us, being outdoorsy, this means a mandatory camping trip and I'm not about to complain!
The next one everyone notices is the Sabbath, and it saddens me that this isn't a normal thing anyways. After all, it's even within the ten commandments that most follow and they ignore this one! Sabbath biblically starts at sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday. This means you have all Friday to bake the challah, clean your house for the weekend and prepare things for a day of resting. Having a nice big meal on Friday so you have leftovers for Saturday's lunch and sit down to dinner where we break the bread and drink wine in communion. Then Saturday comes around and it's a day of rest, provided to us by God to learn of him and worship him. Why are we rejecting a day to put our feed up and delve into his word? There is little more refreshing for the next week that this!
From here you have the smaller things. Things like wearing the tzitzit Elohim told us to to visually set us apart and mark us as his as well as being a tool, like anointing oil, for healing. Or following the hygiene laws about people sick or a woman's mensuration. These really don't change a lot for what we do and how we live.
So is it Really so much of a change? It can be. Is that bad? Not at all, change in our lives is what we are told to have done if we are saved or our very salvation gets called into question. Now I am Not saying you are unsaved if you are not Torah observant, but there clearly is spiritual relevance to doing so. Matthew 5:19 says, 19 So whoever disobeys the least of these mitzvot (commandments) and teaches others to do so will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But whoever obeys them and so teaches will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.
And so I encourage you, torah observant or not, to allow change to happen and to not be afraid of it or rebuke it! Change is a good thing as we have left the old us behind for the new, led by the Ruach HaKodesh to obedience to Elohim as a sign of our love for him.
And so in closing, if your life hasn't changed since you've become a Believer perhaps you need to reevaluate if you are indeed living for Yeshua, for as Revelations 3:15-16 says, 15 “I know what you are doing: you are neither cold nor hot. How I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm, neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth!
