Mark chapter 10
Today we are walking in: Purpose And Position
Job 33:17
That he may withdraw man from his purpose H6213, and hide pride from man.
purpose
Today we look to the word-PURPOSE- H6213 ’asah--to do, work, make, produce; to act, act with effect, effect
The Torah testifies...............
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The prophets proclaim..................
Isaiah 14:26
This is the purpose H6213 that is purposed upon the whole earth: and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations.
The writings bear witness...........................
Ecclesiates 3:1
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose H6213 under the heaven:
Purpose and Position
Status without purpose is position without authority.
One afternoon a mother took her son to the local elementary school for soccer practice. She returned an hour and a half later to find an angry, tearful child. When she asked him what was wrong, he said, “My practice wasn’t here today. It was at the park. We must have read the schedule wrong. So, I had to sit and watch the other teams practice. It was so boring! Now I’m afraid my coach won’t let me play in the game on Saturday because I missed practice.”
Most of us have had the experience of being at the wrong place. We’ve waited at one entrance to the store while our friends were looking for us at another. Or we’ve waited at a customer service desk to exchange a purchase, only to find that we had to go to the department where the purchase was made. Such experiences are disturbing because we cannot achieve what we set out to do.
Such frustration is minor compared to the turmoil created by our competition to excel and reach a position of prestige and honor. This desire to get ahead is a compelling passion in our world. Every person has been bitten by this aspiration to rise in status. We are preoccupied with the status quo and we seek to gain status symbols. We want the best for ourselves with little or no concern for those we climb over in our pursuit for a position of power.
The desire for status is an age-old problem. From the time we are very young, we learn to do the things that enhance our status and bring us prominence and prestige. Even Yahusha’ disciples were not free from the suffocating grip of this ambition.
Who Is the Greatest?
The Gospel of Mark describes the status seeking of James and John, two of Yahusha’ closest disciples. As the time for Yahusha’ death drew near and He spoke to His disciples of His impending arrest, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, asked Yahusha for a favor: “Let one of us sit at Your right and the other at Your left in Your glory” (Mark 10:37). Yahusha cautioned them that they did not know what they were requesting and asked whether they could endure what He would need to endure. When they assured Him they could, He agreed that they would share His suffering but that the places beside Him in glory were not His to grant.
When the other ten disciples heard about the request James and John had made of Yahusha, they became angry and resentful. Not too many days before they had been arguing on the road about who was the greatest. This desire of James and John undoubtedly caused the emotions generated by that discussion to resurface.
On that occasion Yahusha had taught them that he who wants to be first “must be the very last, and the servant of all” (Mark 9:35). Now He taught them that “whoever wants to be first must be the slave of all” and reminded them that He had “not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:43-15).
Defining Status
Status literally means “the state of us.” Webster defines it as a “condition or position with regard to the law.” Thus, status is position. Webster also describes status as “the position of an individual in relation to another”—showing that status has to do with rank—and “the state or condition of affairs.” Status is not just a random ordering of things, but a careful positioning that reveals the relationships between people or the parts of a whole.
The Scriptures reveal that Yah takes very seriously this issue of position. He ordained in creation that everything in life has a purpose and a relationship to everything else within Yah’s universe. Or to say it another way, the principle of status states that everything has a purpose, which determines its status in relationship to everything else. Yah also consistently reveals in His Word that position is given, not for personal gain, but for the good of all.
The Responsibility of Status
When I went to junior high school, I wanted to become an A student because A students are respected and appreciated. Everybody speaks to you and the teachers love you. In other words, my purpose for trying to attain the A student status had nothing to do with a desire to help others. I was out to grab all I could for myself.
Similar things happen in the workplace. Perhaps you are part of an office where fake games are played. Somebody’s always making the coffee, vacuuming the floor or making copies. Now all these are necessary tasks, but the motive behind the action is of primary importance. Are these things being done as a service to others or are they a way to gain special recognition and advancement?
The apostle Paul warns against the destruction and futility of seeking position for personal gain.
... Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith Yah has given you. Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have same function, so in Hamachiach we who are many form one body, and each members belongs to all the others (Romans 12:3-5).
... I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit-just as you were called to one hope when you were called—one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one Yah and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all (Ephesians 4:1-6).
This humility and consideration for others occurs most easily when each part of the body knows and values its position as well as the positions of others.
It was He [Hamachiach] who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare Yah’s people for works of service, so that the body of Hamachiach may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of Yah and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Hamachiach (Ephesians 4:11-13).
We see that position is not given to show the value of one person or part of the body over another. Thus, visible position does not equal greater value. Each part is to do his task to the best of his ability to benefit the whole. Those in leadership receive that status to strengthen everyone.
The Importance of Position
This importance of position is evident throughout life. Let’s use the example of a telephone to illustrate this truth.
Like the parts of a phone, each person Yah creates has a specific place within the overall scheme of His plan for the world. Character, nature, gifts and position are specially designed to fulfill whatever task Yah purposed for each individual. Frustration results whenever we try to fulfill a position that we are not designed to occupy, because failure to accomplish our Yah-given tasks is disobedience.
Just Because It’s Good Doesn’t Mean It’s Right
The key to obedience is understanding status. Many people are disobedient and don’t know it. They are doing good things that are not the right things because they are out of position. Yah’s attitude toward obedience says that to almost obey, to obey too soon, to obey too late, to obey in the wrong place and to obey with the wrong person are all disobedience. The prophet Samuel expressed this truth after Yah took His anointing from King Saul, who had desired to worship Yah with offerings obtained through disobedience. Saul wanted to do a good thing that was not right.
The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king” (1 Samuel 16.1).
Yah also had to speak to Moses about trying to do more than his Yah-given task. Yah accomplished this through Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law.
What is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around you from morning till evening? ... What you are doing is not good. You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. ...You must be the people’s representative before Yah ... but select capable men from all the people ... [and] have them serve as judges for the people ... (Exodus 18:14,17- 18,19,21,22)
There will never be a lack of need in this world. If you are driven to meet everyone’s needs, you will not be able to meet even those needs that Yah wants you to meet. Doing the right thing, and not just the good thing, requires that you find your Yah-given purpose and position and stay there. Obedience doesn’t consist of following the prescribed do’s and don’ts. It involves doing the right thing in the right place at the right time. When you stray from that place, you hurt yourself and others, because violation of status always causes chaos and destruction.
The Violation of Status
The major dilemmas that plague our world are related to a violation of position. This predicament goes back to the first human beings when Adam and Eve got out of position. No longer content to be creatures, they sought to take the place of Yah.
Think for a moment what would happen if the members of a basketball team became dissatisfied with their positions and decided to take someone else’s place. No one would know who was going to defend against baskets, who was going up for rebounds and who was going to take the ball down the floor to score. Teamwork would be impossible with everyone out of position, and each player would constantly be jostling the members of his own team. Such a lack of cooperation would soon destroy the team.
The jealousy and envy behind such dissatisfaction became evident in the lives of Miriam and Aaron, Moses’ brother and sister, so that they began to talk against him: “Has the Lord spoken only through Moses? ... Hasn’t He also spoken through us?” (Numbers 12:2) When the Lord heard this, He told Moses, Miriam and Aaron go out to the Tent of Meeting, where He met them in a pillar of cloud.
He [Yah] stood at the entrance to the Tent and summoned Aaron and Miriam. When both of them stepped forward, He said: “Listen to My words: When a prophet of the Lord is among you, I reveal Myself to him in visions, I speak to him in dreams. But this is not true of My servant Moses; he is faithful in all My house. With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against My servant Moses?” (Numbers 12:5-8)
The Lord had to reprimand Miriam and Aaron because they were out of position. So great was His anger that Miriam had leprosy when the cloud of the Lord lifted. When Aaron p leaded with Moses not to hold their foolishness against them, Moses prayed to the Lord for her healing. Yah answered his prayer, but He required that Miriam remain a leper for seven days.
Our position or status in life is determined by our purpose. Every item in a car engine is different, vital and unique, but it is located in the engine based on the purpose it was made to perform. If any part refuses its position, the entire equipment ceases to function.
A Blessing Becomes a Curse
The disastrous consequences of the violation of position are also seen in the power of death. Death is a constant companion for each of us. It is also the most unique motivator I have ever known. You can either fear death- negative motivation—or you can see it as an asset— positive motivation. It doesn’t matter which path you take, you will always meet it at the end of the road. Yah wants you to learn about death so you can use it as a positive motivation and begin living.
Death has an assignment. This is true because Yah is a Yah of purpose who creates everything with a purpose. Nothing exists that was not created by Yah. Because death exists, it must have a purpose. The key, then, to understanding death is to discover its purpose.
Death Defined
There are two definitions of death. First, death is “the extinction of vital functions to the point where they cannot be renewed.” This definition applies to the lower order of life. For man, death is either “the separation of the soul and the spirit from the physical body” or “the separation of man, as an entire entity—body, soul and spirit—from Yah, his Creator.”
The Scriptures tell us that death is the penalty of sin (Romans 5:12). We know, however, that Adam lived many years after he was driven from the garden and the tree of life (Genesis 5:5). Death, from Yah’s perspective, must thus be the separation of man from Himself. He isn’t so concerned with the length of your years as the state of your relationship with Him. It would seem, then, that the problem is not death, but the effect of sin on death.
The Servant Becomes the Master
Through sin, death began to do something that it was not supposed to do. It began to stop man’s life. What Yah intended to be a blessing became a curse through man’s disobedience. Sin made death go in reverse. Instead of ministering dying, it is causing kitting.
Killing is death before the completion of purpose. Dying is death after purpose has been fulfilled. Death before the completion of purpose is murder because it stops you from doing all you came to the earth to do. This was not death’s original purpose.
Yah designed death to produce life, not stop it. When sin entered the picture, death lost its purpose. It ceased serving your life and began to rule it Yahusha came to get rid of sin and to deal with the one who is the source of sin.
Sin is everything that separates us from Yah. It is not so much what we do or do not do, as it is the attitudes of our hearts and our internal rebellion against the will of Yah. Thus, a person can be morally impressive but still be a sinner.
Sin caused death to go crazy. Consequently, death is now out of position. No longer the termination of an appointment or the fulfillment of time as Yah designed it to be, death has become a power that thwarts Yah’s purposes for individual people by claiming their lives before they complete, or even find, their purpose.
Death, when it assumes the role of a servant, is really a graduation from this phase of life to the next. It frees us from time and propels us into eternity. The death we now know rules instead of serving. Because it is out of postion, death has a sting, a power and a victory that were not part of Yah’s plan and purpose.
If your life is terminated before you discover and fulfill your purpose, you are killed. However, if you know your purpose and complete it, you simply die. Everyone who completes his purpose dies with peace and confidence. Paul, the apostle, at his death, confidently stated,
... I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith (2 Timothy 4:6- 7).
This statement, like Yahusha’ declarations, “No one takes it [My life] from Me, I lay it down of My own accord” (John 10:18) and “It is finished” (John 19:30), indicates the peace that purpose gives in death.
HaSatan uses death for termination. Yah intended death for transition. The vast difference between the two is the result of death’s change in position from servant to ruler. Although other violations of position may not have as severe a consequence as this, all deviations from Yah’s intended purpose, and the resulting position, bring destruction and pain. They short-change all involved, causing either the loss or the deferment of achieving Yah’s desired end. This is a high penalty for the temporary satisfaction that such infractions bring.
Purpose determines the right position. Any other position, no matter how good, is the wrong position. Life is too valuable to waste in the pursuit of status. Yah’s position for all creation is always the best.
PRINCIPLES
1. Everything has a purpose, which determines its status in relationship to everything else.
2. Purpose is given to fulfill both the corporate and the individual purpose.
3. You cannot fulfill your purpose if you are in the wrong position.
4. Violation of position always causes chaos and destruction.
5. Death has become a threat because it is out of position.
6. Yah designed death to produce life, not stop it.
AND he arose from thence, and came into the coasts of Yahud by the farther side of the Yardan: and the people resort unto him again; and, as he was wont, he taught them again. And the Parashiym came to him, and asked him, Is it Lawful for a man to put away his woman? tempting him. And he answered and said unto them, What did Mosheh command you? And they said, Mosheh suffered to write a cepher of divorcement, and to put her away. And Yahusha answered and said unto them, For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept. But from the beginning of the creation Elohiym made them male and female. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his woman; And they two shall be one flesh: so then they are no more two, but one flesh. What את therefore Elohiym has joined together, let not man put asunder. And in the house his Talmidiym asked him again of the same matter. And he said unto them, Whosoever shall put away his woman, and marry another, breaks wedlock against her. And if a woman shall put away her man, and be married to another, she breaks wedlock. And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them: and his Talmidiym rebuked those that brought them. But when Yahusha saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the Kingdom of Elohiym. Amein I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the Kingdom of Elohiym as a little child, he shall not enter therein. And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them. And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Rabbi, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? And Yahusha said unto him, Why do you call me good? there is none good but one, that is, Elohiym. You know the commandments, Do not break wedlock, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honor your father and your mother. And he answered and said unto him, Rabbi, all these have I observed from my youth. Then Yahusha beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing you lack: go your way, sell whatsoever you have, and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven: and come, take up your cross, and follow me. And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions. And Yahusha looked round about, and said unto his Talmidiym, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the Kingdom of Elohiym! And the Talmidiym were astonished at his words. But Yahusha answered again, and said unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the Kingdom of Elohiym! It is easier for a rope to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Elohiym. And they were astonished out of measure, saying among themselves, Who then can be saved? And Yahusha looking upon them said, With men it is impossible, but not with Elohiym: for with Elohiym all things are possible. Then Kepha began to say unto him, Lo, we have left all, and have followed you. And Yahusha answered and said, Amein I say unto you, There is no man that has left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or woman, or children, or lands, את for my sake, and the Besorah's, But he shall receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life. But many that are first shall be last; and the last first. And they were in the way going up to Yerushalayim; and Yahusha went before them: and they were amazed; and as they followed, they were afraid. And he took again the twelve, and began to tell them what things should happen unto him, Saying, Behold, we go up to Yerushalayim; and the Son of A'dam shall be delivered unto the chief priests, and unto the scribes; and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him to the other nations: And they shall mock him, and shall scourge him, and shall spit upon him, and shall kill him: and the third day he shall rise again. And Ya`aqov and Yochanon, the sons of Zavdiy, come unto him, saying, Rabbi, we would that you should do for us whatsoever we shall desire. And he said unto them, What would ye that I should do for you? They said unto him, Grant unto us that we may sit, one on your right hand, and the other on your left hand, in your glory. But Yahusha said unto them, Ye know not what את ye ask: can ye drink of the cup that I drink of? and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? And they said unto him, We can. And Yahusha said unto them, Ye shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of; and with the baptism that I am baptized withal shall ye be baptized: But to sit on my right hand and on my left hand is not mine to give; but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared. And when the ten heard it, they began to be much displeased with Ya`aqov and Yochanon. But Yahusha called them to him, and said unto them, Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the other nations exercise lordship over them; and their great ones exercise authority upon them. But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister: And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all. For even the Son of A'dam came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. And they came to Yeriycho: and as he went out of Yeriycho with his Talmidiym and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging. And when he heard that it was Yahusha the Netseriy, he began to cry out, and say, Yahusha, Son of David, have mercy on me. And many charged him that he should hold his peace: but he cried the more a great deal, Son of David, have mercy on me. And Yahusha stood still, and commanded him to be called. And they call the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise; he calls you. And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Yahusha. And Yahusha answered and said unto him, What will you that I should do unto you? The blind man said unto him, Adonai, that I might receive my sight. And Yahusha said unto him, Go your way; your faith has made you whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Yahusha in the way. MARQUS (MARK) 10:1-52את CEPHER
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