The Hard Work of Resting

For much of the last few weeks I have taken time away from Skokie. Technically I was on a sabbatical. No I wasn’t wasting time doing nothing. I’m way too Type A for that. I was busy reading, writing and thinking, but without the stress of interruption from calls, emails, texts and unexpected crisis walking into my office. It was very restful! My mind lately had grown exhausted from what has been a very exciting and effective time of almost continuous ministry. Not all burdens will exhaust the body, but all burdens can exhaust our mind and spirit.

Rest is of course a Scriptural commandment. Yeshua our Messiah himself spoke this challenge to us in Matthew 11:28, “Come to Me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Yeshua is not speaking here of taking a break from doing the dishes, instead he is speaking of our laying on him the deep burdens of our heart and mind.

Laying our burdens at the feet of our Messiah Yeshua brings rest. For those of us in ministry work, whether vocational or volunteer, this means rest from assuming responsibility for what we can’t control; rest from activity that G-d hasn’t actually called us to do; rest from people who won’t choose to change no matter how much time we might pour into their lives.

Yeshua calls us to rest in him, in who he is and in his sovereignty over our lives as Melech Mashiach, King Messiah!

Impacting our world for Messiah demands our willingness to work hard for him while at the same time resting fully in him. Paradoxical yes, but isn’t that always G-d’s way? Something to think about!

Forward for Messiah,

Kirk Gliebe

Rabbi & Director

Still Looking for Truth

Marketing experts write that every three to five years our culture completely reinvents itself, with the process compressing with each passing cycle. This change is not just limited to the United States or even Western Civilization; the entire world is going through this process of societal and cultural upheaval. Current societal change is often mistakenly called “Postmodernism”, an older term describing societal trends in the 1970’s breaking from what used to be “Modernism”. But in reality what society has become today is highly individualized, what British Philosopher Dr. Alan Kirby calls “Pseudo-Modernism. Kirby states, “whereas postmodernism favoured the ironic, the knowing and the playful, with their allusions to knowledge, history and ambivalence, pseudo-modernism’s typical intellectual states are ignorance, fanaticism and anxiety”.

Today in America personalized spirituality is all the rage, even if these same individuals can’t express any deep understanding of what it is that they actual believe. Fanatical commitment, at least for short periods of time, has been evident as well (remember the “Occupy Wall Street” protests a few years back?), but just not to religious faith as statistics show that now 27% of Americans state as “None” their affiliation with organized religion. Today, by some estimates, there are five to eight times as many high school and college students being diagnosed with anxiety disorder as was true half a century or more ago. As Dr. Peter Gray wrote recently, “The changes seem to have much more to do with the way young people view the world than with the way the world actually is.”

The truth is that people today are still looking for Truth, they just might not realize it.

Reaching people in our ever adjusting secular society will require that we tenaciously adjust, creatively consider and honestly evaluate our methods of communicating the Message of Messiah Yeshua, never deviating from the clear proclamation of our message. And one more thing: we need to make sure our message is clearly validated through the actions of our everyday lives.

Forward for Messiah,

Kirk Gliebe

Rabbi & Director

https://philosophynow.org/issues/58/The_Death_of_Postmodernism_And_Beyond - Dr. Kirby

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/freedom-learn/201001/the-decline-play-and-rise-in-childrens-mental-disorders - Dr. Gray

Effective Service!

Happy 2016, I think. It’s too early to tell whether this will be a good New Year or not, but regardless, this year too will pass, and if we are not careful, will pass us by without much lasting result. Devar Emet Messianic Jewish Outreach will be celebrating it’s 20 year anniversary in April; I also will be turning 50 that same month. It’s hard to imagine! As I reflect on these years, I would like to share some important principles for effective service for G-d that is important for all of us as believers to consider regardless of our age or occupation.

Effective service for G-d doesn’t just happen, it takes continuous development! Devar Emet began out of a desire Carla and I had to do something new within the Jewish community that would allow us to effectively reaching out to Jewish friends and neighbors with the truth of Yeshua’s Messiahship. We had done ministry in previous contexts, but we had always felt held back from trying new things that to some seemed edgy, like working with children and teens. All ministry efforts can over time grow complacent, lose their edge and become hardened into a comfortable and acceptable pattern of busyness. Organizations and congregations need to seek renewal, make time for reflection, and be willing to think outside the box to really stay effective. But most importantly, they must never ignore new approaches to reaching out and communicating the Good News of Messiah to our ever changing world.

Effective service for G-d requires staying flexible, being uncomfortable, and keeping focused on G-d’s task! I see as people age that they tend to shy away from what’s hard and uncomfortable. This may be natural, but for the believer it must be avoided. Working with people, especially people who don’t believe in Yeshua, is always hard work. The longer we walk with Messiah, the more effective we should be becoming in our ability to witness and spiritually encourage others. My passion for us as followers of Messiah Yeshua is that we stay ready for and focused on the important Kingdom work G-d has for us to do each and every day.

Effective service for G-d must inevitably lead to the raising up of new qualified workers for service!  G-d’s work always needs new workers. It is my prayer that G-d will work through our outreach at Devar Emet to raise up many new workers to serve G-d, individuals who are willing to give their lives to meet spiritual, emotional and physical needs within the Jewish community in the name of the Messiah! The need is absolute as even now the work is greater than our over-extended time and efforts can handle. Yeshua said in Matthew 9:36 when he saw the crowds, “The harvest is rich, but the workers are few. Pray that the L-RD of the harvest will send out workers to gather in his harvest.” This is my passion and hopefully yours as well. It is a tall order, both in time and finances, but this is G-d’s work and He will provide for what He wants to have done until our Messiah Yeshua returns!

Forward for Messiah,

Kirk Gliebe

Rabbi & Director

Faith is Not for the Faint of Heart

Our calendar in December encourages us to remember two important historical events that are at their core, dates that celebrate faith. As Messiah Yeshua stated in Luke 18:8, “But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” (TLV) The context for this statement is the illustration of the persistent widow and the stubborn judge. Yeshua was challenging his disciples then, and us today, to persist in prayer, which is to persist in faith. Unfortunately too many of us I believe have allowed our zeal for faith living to cool. Let’s face it, living out faith today in our society isn’t perceived to be cool!

Hebrews 11 is recognized as a chapter that celebrates faith in G-d. The first verse makes the point of trying to both define faith and articulate what it does in the life of a person of faith. I sum the verse up in two points:

First, Faith is Confident Assurance about our Future. Faith gives us genuine certainty regarding what G-d has stated in his Scripture about our eternal future with him!

Second, Faith is G-d given Conviction about the Unseen Reality. Faith is the motivation that leads us to test for what G-d has stated in the Scriptures about the reality of the spiritual realm and, by testing, to prove that it is real!

What does this have to do with Chanukah and Christmas? Both of these holidays remember people of faith who took deliberate, risky and painful steps of faith! The Maccabees who stood up against the corrupt religious establishment of their day and the paganism of the Syrian King who reigned over them practiced great faith. They took G-d at his word, understanding what he expected from them, and brought great spiritual renewal for our Jewish people. Mary and Joseph, Anna and Simeon, also lived out faith in what G-d revealed to each of them in quite inconvenient and socially awkward ways. Just to think that Mary humbly agreed to become the mother of the Messiah, knowing the stigma this would cause her; Joseph also, knowing he would need to bear the difficult role of fathering a son, not his own, but G-d’s! Why did they do this? They were confronted by the reality of G-d’s will for their lives and they chose, by faith, to fulfill G-d’s will for them despite the difficulties it would bring. They each chose to trust G-d!

This holiday season take time to renew your commitment to faith living. What steps can you take that will force you to test the reality of G-d’s unseen spiritual realm: More time for Scripture reading? A greater commitment to G-d’s service in an environment way outside your comfort zone? Really prioritizing G-d with your finances? Setting aside your plans for your life in order fulfill G-d’s plans for your life? G-d’s Word is truth and Messiah calls us to grow our faith in him through prayer and action. Something to think about!

Happy Chanukah & Merry Messiahmas!

Kirk Gliebe

Rabbi & Director

Enjoying the Journey

Flying each year into Israel on our HaDerekh Youth Israel Aliyah can become pretty routine. It’s a combined journey of usually about 24 hours and 7,000 miles through three airports, leading 8 individuals, all in their late teens or early 20’s. But after 7 trips with different groups of Messianic Jewish young adults, I have developed a pretty good plan for moving us along our journey to the Land of Israel.

Even though our journey to the Land has developed into somewhat of a routine, I would never want our trip to actually be routine. A meaningful journey can never be accomplished on auto pilot. It must be engaged thoughtfully, intentionally and joyfully. Life is an adventure and I for one want to live it to the fullest. I want these Israel trips to be challenging, to stay fresh, to be provocative.

But real life isn’t a series of extreme sports. Real life is living out our time focused on the journey   G-d has for us to pursue. Time is a precious gift from G-d, and just marking time is a waste of that precious gift.

As we celebrate the beginning of another Jewish New Year let us remember to enjoy and be intentional in the journey of Life! 

Forward for Messiah.

Kirk Gliebe
Rabbi & Director

Starting the Jewish New Year with a New Mindset

Ever get a bit frustrated by life? Do you ever find yourself envious of friends or colleagues who seem to be able to handle life’s bumps just a little better than you? Now that we are starting the new Jewish year of 5776, it’s a good time to consider implementing a new mindset. A few years back I read of a study conducted by Duke University on "Peace of Mind” just for the purpose of trying to figure this out. The results of the study contained the following nine factors which, when applied to one’s life, are most likely to contribute to emotional and mental stability:

1) The absence of suspicion and resentment (Nursing a grudge was a major factor in unhappiness)

2) Living in the present and the future (Much unhappiness stems from an unwholesome preoccupation with one’s past mistakes and failures)

3) Not wasting time and energy fighting conditions you cannot change (Learning to choose your life battles wisely)

4) Cooperating with life, instead of trying either to demolish it or run away from it

5) Forcing yourself to be outgoing with others, instead of retreating within during periods of stress

6) Refusing to pity yourself or seek self-justification in easy alibis that make you appear "noble" to yourself and others

7) Cultivating the old-fashioned virtues of love, honor, loyalty and thriftiness

8) Not expecting too much of yourself (When there is a wide gap between the standards you set for yourself and your actual achievement, unhappiness is inevitable. If you cannot improve your performance, try lowering the demands instead)

9) Find something bigger than yourself in which to believe (Self-centered, egotistical, materialistic people scored lowest in the study for measuring happiness)

I personally find a great deal of practical advice in this study, but more importantly to me is the ultimate peace of mind that comes from knowing G-d and following him! Rav Shaul writes in Romans 5:1 that our acceptance of Messiah’s sacrifice for our sins has brought us into the position of being at peace with G-d, while in Philippians 4:5-7 he reminds us of G-d’s concern for us to live peacefully with him despite our daily needs and personal trials. Why worry when we can pray! Know that G-d is big enough to know what’s best for you! L’Shanah Tovah!

Forward for Messiah,

Kirk Gliebe

Rabbi & Director

Living for G-d!

Have you ever asked yourself the question “What does it mean to live for G-d?”

For most Yeshua followers this question immediately brings to mind action items such as attending services, reading Scripture and prayer. But action items like these express outer religiosity, and don’t necessarily indicate true internal spiritual passion.  Plenty of people attend services, read Scripture and pray but their approach to life isn’t substantially any different than people who don’t.

“How differently should a person live who states that they want to live their life for G-d?”

It would be easy to be trite; to come up with some clichéd “religious” answer, but G-d doesn’t like cliché followers. To live a life for G-d demands a different approach to life for oneself, a commitment to living differently from the way others do.

Shaul in Philippians 2:12b states: “keep working out your deliverance with fear and trembling”. Would you be someone whom Shaul would say is working out their Yeshua faith based clearly on Scriptural principles? Are you substantially and recognizably different as a believer from unbelievers? Something to ponder!

Forward for Messiah,

Kirk Gliebe

Rabbi & Director