But I Say

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But I Say

Part 2

March 24, 2018 • Matt Rosenberg

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The Pharisees are seen by most people as the adversaries of Jesus because of their many disagreements with Jesus in the New Testament. The truth is both Jesus and the Pharisees taught from the Tanakh (Hebrew Scriptures). Their biggest disagreement being that Jesus often equated himself with God and this made some of the Pharisees angry. Where rabbis spoke opinion, Jesus spoke with Authority; The authority of the One who wrote the Word in the first place. Jesus never said anything new. He taught ancient truth with authority. The authority He spoke with drew large crowds and both excited the people and frightened the establishment. Jesus is the Word of God in flesh and He is calling all people to turn back to God, not just a few thousand years ago but still…today! Part 2 of Jesus Never Said Anything New.

Stop Sinning

April 7, 2018 • Matt Rosenberg

Yeshua was accused of breaking Shabbat but He never actually broke any commandments. He broke the “extra” rules that people added to the observance of Shabbat. What makes Yeshua sinless, meaning he never sinned, is that He didn't break any of the commandments given by God to the Jewish people. God wants to break us of everything that stands in the way of hearing Him clearly. Often the most “religious” things about us, while they make us feel secure, special, and give us a false sense of holiness, are actually killing us on the inside and keeping us from a deeper relationship with God. So stop sinning. Stop judging other people because they don’t follow God exactly the way you do. Instead, show people what it looks like to be changed by God by your example. Truthfully, there is always something God wants to change in us!

Justify Yourself

March 31, 2018 • Matt Rosenberg

Jesus never said anything new. What made Him different to the people who heard him was not the content of His teachings, but the authority with which He spoke. Even His most famous parables weren’t really new, because for generations storytelling was the way Judaism passed down its most important ideas and traditions. In the parable of the Good Samaritan, a Torah scholar attempts to entrap Yeshua into answering questions that are not real questions. There is an insincerity in asking a question when the answer is assumed or there is no interest in the answer. Sometimes our prayers work that way. We ask for what we think we need or want, but we are resistant to what God is actually saying. Or, like the Torah scholar, we try to sound smart or justify our insincerity. You don’t have to prove anything to God, and you don't have to prove anything to people. Ultimately we must strive for sincerity.

On These Two

March 17, 2018 • Matt Rosenberg

In his earthly ministry Jesus was not an innovator, he was a restorer. He didn't introduce new ideas, in fact, he taught the same content as other first century rabbis from the Hebrew Scriptures. As a prophet, like all the prophets who came before, He called out Israel for it’s sin. Jesus never said anything new, He spoke from the Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings, as well as Jewish tradition. But, when He spoke from the Hebrew Scriptures he didn't speak from opinion, He spoke with Authority. The rabbis he speaks with in the Gospels gave varying opinions and interpretations of the Torah; Yeshua interpreted the Torah as the One who wrote it. It is as if he was saying, “Here is what I meant when I wrote it.” He didn't only speak as a prophet but as the God who wrote the commandments. There is no record in the New Testament of people who after hearing Jesus teach said, “These are brand new ideas that no one has taught before!” Rather, their reaction was “This is different because of the authority with which He speaks.” Jesus didn’t come to start a new religion but to call people back to right relationship with the One True God. Jesus never said anything new but He spoke with the authority of the One who gave the Torah to Moses. He spoke with the authority of The Word in flesh.