Who Are You Dressing To Impress? | Decoding the Torah Season 3

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: We're called to a higher standard. So, I want to encourage you. God wants to affect every area of our life, including the way we dress. The way we dress may reveal more about ourselves than we realize, particularly as it relates to how we're walking with God and the consciousness that we have in him of the role that we're playing on the earth as his priest. As we continue to dwell into the laws of the Torah to gain application for our lives today as followers of Jesus, I want to draw our attention to the book of Exodus chapter 20 verse 26. We come to a law that pertains to how the priest should dress as they were ministering in the tabernacle and then later the temple. So, here's the word of God. This is where the law comes from. Exodus 20 verse 26. And you shall not go up by steps to my altar. The Lord is speaking here of course to the priest. And you shall not go up by steps to my altar so that your nakedness will not be exposed on it. The priest had to ascend into the place where they ministered, into the place where they offered sacrifices, into the place where they stood before the people as priest on God's behalf. And if they would have ascended to that place by steps, then the people that were standing beneath the steps could have looked under the priest robe and their flesh, their nakedness would have been exposed. So, what was commanded instead was that a ramp was built. So, when the priest went up by the ramp, there was no way that people from underneath the ramp could look up and have the priest nakedness be exposed. This tells us a lot, beloved friends, about how we as the Lord's sons and daughters in the earth ought to dress. Notice that the Lord was very particular about not letting the flesh of the priest get in the way of a sanctified holy environment from which the priest presided and from which the people stood around or were gathered and worshiped. The tabernacle, as many of you know, eventually became the permanent structure of the temple. The tabernacle was the portable house of worship that was carried through the wilderness as the children of Israel were on the way to the promised land. And every part of the tabernacle was given by the Lord himself. The Lord told Moses exactly how the tabernacle should be built, what it should be built out of, what the measurement should be. Each particular piece of furniture that was to go in the tabernacle that we call in Hebrew the mishkan. Mishkan is the Hebrew name for tabernacle. And it was a divine blueprint. It wasn't a matter of the priest getting together and trying to design it themselves, trying to create something that they thought would serve their purposes. God literally gave them the blueprint. And not only did he give them the blueprint for the tabernacle, but he gave the blueprint to the priest how to dress, what sacrifice should be offered, all the instructions that pertain to the tabernacle worship. Again, the tabernacle was the portable house of worship that the Israelites carried through the wilderness on the way to the promised land. And then once they entered the promised land, the land of Israel, once they got to Israel, eventually a permanent house of worship was built that we call the temple. As many of you know, the first and second temple were destroyed and now all that's left in Jerusalem is the retaining wall that held up the second temple. But the temple was one of the great wonders of the world that was the wonder of the world. It's no longer standing, of course. And interestingly, Yeshua predicted it would be destroyed. He said to Israel that because they did not recognize the time of their visitation, the temple would be destroyed and the people of Jerusalem would be scattered. So, there's no longer a temple, but these instructions that were given to the priest about how to dress pertain not only to how they worshiped and dressed when they ministered in the tabernacle, but then later in the temple itself. Now, the reason the Lord commanded the construction of the tabernacle is that he could meet with Israel there. He said to Israel through Moses, build me a tabernacle that I might meet with my people there. So, it was the place of meeting between God and his people. And God once again had very specific instructions about the type of dress the priest should have when they're leading in worship. They had a dress in a way that their nakedness couldn't be exposed, that their flesh couldn't be exposed. They even wore undergarments under their robe. They look like long underwear. So, it was very important to the Lord that the flesh of mankind did not distract people from his holiness and his glory. In fact, I'm going to cover this in another law, but an additional law was that the Lord told the priest that they were to dress in garments of glory and beauty. So, we've got two things going on. Number one, that the priest could not dress in a way or ascend to the tabernacle or temple in a way so that their flesh would be seen. So, we have this principle of modesty involved, this principle of not drawing people to the attention of our flesh. And then also we have the principle that the priest were to dress in garments of glory and of beauty. So, let's take this mitzvah, this law, this precept and identify what elements conceptually and spiritually are relevant for our lives today as those that are now a royal priesthood because all of us now are called a royal priesthood. And particularly I want to speak to those that lead worship in congregations. I remember some time back I went to a worship service with my worship leader at the time. And the worship team sounded great. And there was a woman up on stage that was leading the worship team. And her clothes were so tight that there was nothing left to the imagination. And I was kind of shocked by it because I had my own congregation at the time, so I really wasn't visiting under other congregations. So, I know in my congregation that I led, we didn't have women dressing like that. So, I said to my worship leader next to me, I said, why is she dressed that way? I mean, again, her pants were so tight you could see everything. And he just said to me, oh, you know, that's the way people dress today. Like he just kind of shrugged it off like, oh, that's just the way people dress. I was like floored. I was flabbergasted. I was appalled. It's like a lack of spiritual sensitivity, a lack of holy spirit common sense. When we are leading worship, when we are representing the Lord to the world, God doesn't want us attracting people to our flesh. When we're representing the Lord to others, he doesn't want our flesh to be distracting. He wants people to see his glory and his beauty. But let me ask you a question. Do you dress the way you do even though you've maybe never admitted this to yourself before, but I am asking you now in the presence of the Lord together, are you dressing in such a way that you purposely and intentionally have dressed the way you've been dressing to draw people to your flesh? If you're a woman in tight clothes and tight jeans, isn't that to attract people to your own physical form showing cleavage? Isn't it really to dress sensuously to draw people to yourself, to be attractive to others by drawing people to your flesh? Hear me when I say it to you, beloved woman of God, you don't have to dress sensually to be attractive. It's beneath your dignity. Orthodox Jewish women wear skirts below their knees and they're no less attractive than women that are wearing short skirts or jeans that cleave to their skin. In fact, in countries where nudity is practiced or just accepted, you go to a nude beach at some places in the world, what you find is eventually nudity loses its stimuli. It no longer does what it did when it first was revealed. But when someone steps out and they're nude in an environment where no one else is nude, that's going to get a reaction, but eventually when everybody's nude after a while, it has no allure anymore. There's nothing attractive about it anymore. There's actually something more fascinating in human sexuality when people dress modestly, when there's something to be revealed and uncovered in the right environment of holy matrimony instead of putting everything out there in the flesh for the world to see. The scriptures are very clear that we should dress modestly. Paul speaks about women dressing modestly as it's fitting for their calling. And so we learn from this commandment here for the priest not to go up to the altar by steps so that no one would be beneath the steps and see their nakedness. We learn from that as God's priesthood that we also need to be dressing attractively in garments of glory and beauty with beautiful colors and fabrics and things of that nature, but not to dress sensuously. We dress in a way to magnify God's beauty, not draw people to the attention of our own flesh.
Dustin Roberts: This is discovering the Jewish Jesus with Rabbi Schneider and he'll continue today's lesson shortly, but first a special announcement.
Rabbi K.A. Schneider: We are lifting up Yeshua, Jesus of Nazareth, to the Jewish community in New York City through massive billboards all over the city. In fact, close to 25% of Jewish people in the United States live right here and we're doing it. For those of you that are helping us, God bless you. This is a move and an act of God.
Dustin Roberts: These billboards point to jews .com. It's an effective tool for impactful evangelism and jews.com explains messianic prophecy and challenges them with the gospel of Jesus. We've had over 300,000 site views and we're not done because 99% of Jewish people reject Jesus. So, I want to encourage you visit the site and consider supporting us. Give at discoveringthejewishjesus.com and now back to today's lesson.
Rabbi K.A. Schneider: I remember years ago I had been lifting weights a lot and it was a nice spring day and I was walking down outside the strip center. There was a bunch of stores and I was on the, you know, the sidewalk, the walkway in front of the stores and all the stores had big windows. And I was feeling really good because I've been lifting weights. I was feeling strong and I was, you know, already probably like maybe 50 years old. And I was thinking to myself, man, you look pretty good. I looked at my muscle and I looked into the window of the store that I was passing by to see my reflection, to see my muscle in the window kind of admiring my, you know, my muscles. And as soon as I did that, my nose just started pouring out blood. My nose just started bleeding. And I never got nose bleeds. It was like sudden out of nowhere. And I felt the Lord was rebuking me. Don't look at yourself. Don't take pleasure in the power of your flesh. Glory in my spirit. And practically speaking, for example, when I minister now as a priest of the Lord, and we're all priest of the Lord, I used to wear my, you know, with button down a button or so down here. I think it looks attractive. You know, it just looked younger. But I said to myself, I don't want to dress that way because I don't want to draw people to my flesh. I want to draw people to the holy one. So, now you'll never see me ministering or if I do, I forgot to do it, but I always make a practice of, you know, having one button down, not two buttons down or three buttons down which again magnifies the power of the flesh and when you know when your chest is out there. We don't want that. We want to dress attractively and beautifully beloved in a way that draws people's attention to the Lord. So, I want to ask you now. And if you're a man by the way, same thing. I was talking about women and tight jeans and showing cleavage. What about our men? Are you dressing to draw people to your muscles? Are you dressing in a way that reflects the dignity that God wants you to have as his servant in the earth? This might mean making decisions a different way when we're purchasing clothes rather than just going for the latest fashion trend, dressing the way that the world is dressing. Instead we recognize that there's a difference between darkness and light and that we have a higher calling, beloved. We're called to a higher standard. So, I want to encourage you. God wants to affect every area of our life, including the way we dress. We're not of the world, beloved. Let that be reflected in the clothes that we wear. I'm amazed that these commandments that were given about 3,500 years ago are still so applicable to our culture today. Not only does the Lord speak about the clothes that we wear, but he speaks about a past time today amongst men that he addressed to men 3,500 years ago. I'm talking about the past time that some people refer to as chasing women or picking up girls. This is very specifically and flat forwardly addressed in the Torah. It comes from the book of Exodus chapter number 22 verse 16. It's the prohibition against men seducing women. Now, some of us might kind of laugh at that picking up girls, chasing women, but let's face it. That is so much a part of culture today. That is so much a part of men that are unsanctified, that don't know the Lord. I mean, that's what men do, you know, when they're in their teens and 20s or whatever. But what does the Lord have to say about this? And how serious is this in the Lord's eyes? Well, we read in the Torah these words. If a man seduces a virgin who is not engaged and lies with her, he must pay a dowry for her to be his wife. This is serious stuff. The Lord is saying here, if a man seduces a woman, a virgin that's not married, he needs to marry her. He needs to pay a dowry. He needs to pay the family of that woman the price for her to become his wife and needs to marry her. So, if people think that casual sex in some way is acceptable or right or okay, my friend, it is not. It is serious, serious, serious business. And for those of you guys that are listening today that may have been compromised in your moral compass because of the world in which we live and somehow think it's okay to be involved in premarital sex and have sexual relations with a woman that you think you might marry, but you're not sure if you're going to marry her. Well, let me tell you, according to God's word, if you have sex with her, my brother, you need to marry her. Sex is a sanctified act. It's even an act of worship that's to be preserved for a marital context. True purity and sexuality takes place between a man and a woman and that's the end of it. Any other kind of sex outside the boundaries of sexuality expressed in marital harmony is outside the laws of the Torah. It's outside, beloved, of God's ways for our lives today. In the time that this law was given, it actually was given to protect especially the rights and the personhood of unmarried virgins because in this society 3,500 years ago, if a virgin had relations with another man that was not her husband, it really put her in a very, very bad situation. Her prospects of a future marriage companion were very low. Her place in society became very low if she would have been diminished by having sex with a man outside of marriage. So, this is serious stuff. It it really helps us to understand the calling, the radical call upon our lives as God's sons and daughters. We are not of the world. Jesus said if you were of the world, the world would love you, but because I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. We're radically different from the world. We're holy. We're cut out. We're separated. And this should be reflected in our sexual behavior and the way that we understand how sexuality should be manifested or enjoyed in the earth. So, I just want to speak to you right now if there are those of you that are listening and you're involved in sexual relations outside of marriage, you just need to cut it off and repent. It's wrong. It's going to hurt you. It's going to separate you from intimacy with God and it's going to hurt other people and there's no compromise here. What fellowship hath light with darkness? My friend, if we mean business with God, we've certainly got to mean business with him here. Sanctified sexuality is perhaps the greatest gift that God has given mankind to enjoy. And it needs to be done in his presence. So, if you can't do what you're doing in his presence and that's according to the word of God, it needs to be cut off. We ought not to be doing it. Beloved, let this word sink deep in your heart. Let's lead sanctified lives. May the fire of God burn within us all. The Hebrew prophets spoke about a time where there would be a famine for the word of God in the earth. And beloved ones, I think in a very real way we're in that time. I know there's a lot of teaching out there, a lot of YouTubes, but so much of it's based on spectacularism and the next quote prophetic word. But when it gets down to just sound teaching of the word of God, it's pretty rare in the earth. And what grieves me even more is that so many of God's people are not interested in just the line by line teaching of God's word. But here discovering the Jewish Jesus, that's what we're committed to do. I like to humbly ask you for your financial support because the truth is it cost us a lot of money to do what we're doing. Everything costs money and without you, my friend, I can't do it. So, if the Lord is using this ministry and my teaching to help you and bless you, would you offer up an offering to the Lord through discovering the Jewish Jesus? Thank you for your support.
Dustin Roberts: Amen. Thank you, Rabbi. Would you help us provide sound biblical teaching? Give at discoveringthejewishjesus.com or call 800-777-7835 or you can also send your gift in the mail. Our address is discoveringthejewishjesus PO Box 777 Blissfield, Michigan 49228. And when you get in touch today, we have a free teaching gift to help you go deeper in scripture. It's called 18 Messianic Prophecies from the Hebrew scriptures. And this bundle includes a written teaching and an MP3 audio teaching from Rabbi Schneider. It traces prophetic passages that reveal Jesus throughout the Hebrew scriptures. You can request your free resources online. Get yours at myfreegift.com/prophecy. And your generosity it helps provide these free resources. You also help Rabbi Schneider continue to open God's word and teach it clearly verse by verse through television, radio, and digital media. That teaching it reaches people wherever they are and it includes those who are hungry for biblical truth, but really don't know where to find it. Your support it also helps carry the gospel to Jewish people in Israel, across the United States, and all around the world introducing them to Jesus as the Messiah. What's the point when you give? You're making a real difference. You're preaching the gospel through this message. Thank you for standing with Rabbi and helping us teach God's word. Now, here he is with the ironic blessing.
Rabbi K.A. Schneider: What I love about the ironic blessing is that it did not originate with man. The words actually proceeded from the very essence of God himself. The blessing comes from the book of Numbers chapter six. So, listen to these words and receive the blessing of the Lord into your life today. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift you up with his countenance and the Lord give you, beloved one, his peace. And now in Hebrew. God bless you and shalom.
Dustin Roberts: I'm your host Dustin Roberts and this program is produced and sponsored by discoveringthejewishjesus.com right here on discoveringthejewishjesus.com