Rebuilding what has been Destroyed

I used to work with a woman, who said she was a Christian, but was enamored with practicing Jewish traditions. I don't know if she was a Messianic Christian or not. I wasn't familiar with the movement at the time to ask her if that is what she identified herself as. However, I do remember that I was beginning to become familiar with the difference between law and grace at this time. On more than one occasion we had disagreements about the role and purpose of the law and Jewish traditions that were practiced. There is nothing wrong with participating in these rituals and traditions. However, as I tried to impress on my coworker, participating in these events is not a reflection of a complete understanding of the grace of God. With that in mind, I recently read the following about Yom Kippur written by a Christian.

Yom Kippur is in the eve of the 8th through to the 9th. As a Christian I am not bound by this but I woke up feeling quite heavy hearted today, like I wanted to give up or something, like some doomed event is ahead or something like that. I got to work and found one of the workers who had received a kidney and liver transplant died two days ago. She struggled all her life with these kidneys and liver disease. She took it well and was always quite cheery and even a little cheeky. It was a shock. Then I got a phone call from my mother asking me what the date of my father's death was. I hardly felt like eating but ate anyway because I didn't want to feed into it. I got to my college and decided to look at the days in the Jewish calendar for no particular reason but to see if what I have been feeling all day is in any way connected to anything Holy. I am usually quite a spontaneous person. I do things quite randomly and so there is no rhyme or reason. Living by faith, for me is like that. Anyway, now i understand why I don't feel like eating and feel like someone has died or something like that. It is mostly about repentance, without which there is no atonement.

My reply was to say that you can't trust your feelings. If you're feeling down, it is due to having "down" thoughts. Experiences surrounding the death of co-workers and family can definitely fuel those thoughts. There is nothing irregular about getting down from time to time, but don't mistake that for needing to participate in Jewish traditions that, actually, deny the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. Christ's death is not an atonement. Atonement is a temporary covering of sin. The death of Christ took away the sins of the world for all eternity. By participating in these types of traditions you run the risk of missing what we have already received from God through faith in Christ. What is the Day of Atonement if it is not a time to perform sacrifices for sins? But, the New Covenant paints a totally different scenario for Christians.

"Then he adds: "Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more."And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin." Hebrews 10: 17-18

As my pastor, who became a Christian during Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), while studying to be a Rabbi, boldly proclaimed, "The promise certainly came through the Jews, but that has nothing to do with our needing to burden our lives with practicing Jewish traditions." We have to be careful not to miss what we have in Christ by participating in festivals geared towards foreshadowing what He was coming to do and has finished. I am astonished how Christians can take a normal condition of our humanity, getting depressed, and imply that it is somehow related to something "holy." The fact that this person admits to doing things "randomly" and with "no rhyme and reason," and in the same breath says they are living by faith is a contradiction in terms. First of all, feeling down is not God trying to remind a Christian that they need to somehow cleanse themselves of sin or participate in religious traditions. That sounds a lot like a form of condemnation which no Christian is under from God. We might face it from other believers, but that is a reflection of religious pride not God's punishment. Secondly, we live by faith in Jesus Christ to live His life in and through us in the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. We don't live life at the whim of our feelings and impulses and then call it faith. Furthermore, God is not going to be leading a Christian to participate in festivals that deny the finished work of Christ.

"When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ." Colossians 2: 13-17

As I stated earlier, a Christian is free to participate in these festivals because Christ has set us free from the law. But, why would a Christian feel that God might be leading them to participate in a tradition that He has cancelled through the death of Christ? Furthermore, it is a tradition that directly denies what it was that Christ did for us on the cross. Christ died to take away the sins of the world for all eternity. Yom Kippur, according to the Jewish Virtual Library, "is a day set aside to "afflict the soul," to atone for the sins of the last year." You can't line up what Christ did with our sins and what takes place during the Day of Atonement and say it is in agreement. You are effectively telling Jesus that His death on the cross was not good enough. That He must have missed some sins when He died on the cross! I know that is not what those Christians, who participate in festivals like the Day of Atonement, are doing. However, it does say that they don't believe Jesus has taken away all their sins. What is says, as was admitted by the Christian above, that these Christians are being led by their feelings rather than by Christ. They are not living by faith, but are trying to live the Christian life on their own, apart from faith. These festivals were designed as a foreshadow of what Christ was going to do. So, it doesn't make sense to participate in something that is no longer necessary or required by God.

"We who are Jews by birth and not 'Gentile sinners' know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified. "If, while we seek to be justified in Christ, it becomes evident that we ourselves are sinners, does that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! If I rebuild what I destroyed, I prove that I am a lawbreaker. For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!" Galatians 2: 15-21

Did Christ die for nothing? Of course not! But, when we participate in religious festivals designed to seek God's forgiveness that is exactly what we are saying. Because we are following our feelings we end up denying God's truth why we seek to obtain through human effort that which can only be received through faith in Jesus Christ. You might be saying to yourself, I don't participate in any Jewish traditions, so this doesn't apply to me. Perhaps, but, do you ask God to forgive you every day? Do you go to confession? Do you answer altar calls at church? Do you keep short accounts with God? Do you recite "The Lord's Prayer"? If you do these things, then you might as well be participating in the Day of Atonement. You haven't been reconciled to God and, thus, do not believe that all your sins, past, present and future, have been forgiven. It is not an act of faith to ask God to do what He has already done. You wouldn't keep paying on a debt that has been paid in full, right? Well, that is what you are doing every time you seek further forgiveness from God for your sins. There is no more forgiveness left to receive than what God has already given you. By participating in religious festivals, or rituals, in order to get further forgiveness, we are rebuilding what has been destroyed. We have been set free from the law and its regulations, whether Jewish or otherwise. Therefore, we don't have to keep up our involvement in these things. The law was designed to show us our sins. There is no Christian who says they are without sin. But, when we sin, the answer is not to seek more forgiveness. Faith reminds us that we already stand forgiven, to thank God for taking our sins away from His eyes, never to be seen again, and to approach Him in confidence to find out where it was we weren't trusting Him when we sinned. There is no law, no festival, no ritual and no tradition that can do that for us. We don't get forgiveness once a year. We already stand forgiven, every day of our lives, because of Christ's finished work on our behalf. Amen!