We view our responsibilities as a congregation and as individual Believers in Mashiach to be as follows:

Our Responsibility Toward G-d

Our Responsibility Toward Our Family

Our Responsibility Toward the Body of Mashiach

Our Responsibility Toward the Lost

Our Responsibility Toward Israel

Our Responsibility Toward G-d

• We agree with the Westminster Shorter Catechism that “Man’s primary purpose (‘chief end’) is to glorify G-d, and to enjoy Him forever.” We accomplish this responsibility toward G-d first and foremost by loving Him. When we truly love Him above all else, we will give Him our unquestioning obedience in all things. He will be glorified by our love and obedience.

• When a scribe asked Yeshua, “Which mitzvah [commandment] is the greatest of all?” Yeshua answered, “The greatest is, ‘Hear, Yisra'el, the LORD our G-d, the LORD is one: you shall love the LORD your G-d with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first mitzvah. The second is like this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other mitzvah greater than these.” (Mark 12:28-31 HNV)

• Anyone who does not love G-d as Yeshua commanded is under G-d’s divine curse. “If any man doesn't love the Lord Yeshua the Messiah, let him be accursed. Maranata!” (1 Cor. 16:22 HNV)

• The Bible says that Yeshua HaMashiach became obedient to Torah so that the Gentiles would glorify G-d. “Now I say that Messiah has been made a minister of the circumcision for the truth of G-d, that he might confirm the promises given to the fathers, and that the Goyim might glorify G-d for his mercy. As it is written, ‘Therefore will I give praise to you among the Goyim, And sing to your name.’” We believe that because Yeshua was obedient to Torah, and we claim that we follow Him, then we are likewise called to be obedient to Torah. (Rom. 15:8-9 HNV)

• The Bible says that because He has bought us out of bondage to sin, we live to glorify Him. “For you were bought with a price. Therefore glorify G-d in your body and in your spirit, which are G-d’s.” (1 Cor. 6:20 HNV)

• Yeshua said that if we love Him we will obey Him (John 3:36; 14:23,24), and the Epistles confirm that we are to obey Him (Acts 5:29,32; Rom. 2:8; 6:16; 2 Thess. 1:8; 3:14; Heb. 5:9; 1 Pet. 1:2; 4:17). This glorifies G-d. (Rom. 15:6)

• The Bible says that we have become the Bride of Mashiach and that we will reign with Him forever. (Rev. 19:6-9; 21:1-22:7)

HNV = Hebrew Names Version of World English Bible

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Our Responsibility Toward Our Family

• Because G-d created the family millennia before He created His Miqra, we believe that our responsibility toward our family comes second only to our responsibility toward our G-d. Yeshua set this model before us in that as He hung dying on Calvary’s cross, He committed the care of His mother into the hands of the beloved Disciple. G-d’s Torah, which our Lord declared as unchangeable, provides for strong family bonds and responsibilities, and our Lord taught that the man who fails to care for his family is worse than an infidel.

• Concerning relationships within the Family:

  • Rabbi Sha'ul taught that Yeshua is the head of the husband and the husband is to be subject to Yeshua, and that the husband is the head of the wife, and the wife is to be subject to her husband (Eph. 5:22-33; Col. 13:18; 1 Pet. 3:1-6; Titus 2:5).

  • The Bible also teaches that the husband is to love his wife just as Mashiach also loved the miqra and gave Himself up for her, and to treat her gently, “as a weaker vessel” (Eph. 5:25-33; Col. 3:19; 1 Pet. 3:7).

  • The Bible teaches that a husband and wife are to “become one flesh” (Eph. 5:31).

  • The Bible teaches that children are to be obedient to their parents and honor them (Col. 3:20; Eph. 6:1-3), but that fathers are not to exasperate their children or provoke them to anger “but [are to] bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Col. 3:21 Eph. 6:4).

  • Parents are to instruct their children in the Torah of G-d “that they should put their confidence in G-d, and not forget the works of G-d, but keep His commandments.”

  • Parents are also to teach their children the praises of the LORD, not just His judgments (Psalm 78:1-8; Deut. 4:10; 6:4-9; 11:18-21).

• We therefore commit that in all the teachings and functions of this congregation, we will keep the family foremost, that our families will be built on the sure foundation, which is Adonai Yeshua HaMashiach and His Word.

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Our Responsibility Toward the Body of Mashiach

• When speaking about the greatest of all commandments, Yeshua said, “The second is like this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other mitzvah greater than these” (Mark 12:31 HNV). Yeshua also said, “This is my mitzvah, that you love one another, even as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends, if you do whatever I command you. … I command these things to you, that you may love one another” (John 15:12-17 HNV) We are commanded to fervently love each other (1 Pet. 1:22; 4:8-9; 1 John 3:11,23; 4:7-12; 2 John 1:5).

• This kind of love means placing the well-being of others before that of ourselves. (Rom. 12:10; Phil. 2:3,4; 1 Thess. 3:11-13; 5:15)

• We are to meet one another’s needs. (Rom. 12:13; 2 Cor. 9:12-14)

• We are to obey our congregation leaders and submit to their authority over us. (Heb. 13:17)

• We are to be devoted to one another. (Rom. 12:10-13)

• We are to “pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another.” (Rom. 14:19-20)

• We are to “be of the same mind with one another according to Mashiach Yeshua.” (Rom. 15:6) and to accept one another. (Rom. 15:7)

• We are to admonish one another. (Rom. 15:14; Col. 3:16)

• We are to give honor to one another (1 Cor. 12:24-26; 1 Thess. 5:13).

• We are to “show forbearance to one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” (Eph. 4:1-6) We are to lay aside all falsehood and speak truth to each other (Eph. 4:25; Col. 3:9) We are to be kind and tenderhearted to each other (Eph. 4:32). We are to forgive each other as G-d in Yeshua forgave us (Eph. 4:32; Col. 3:12-15).

• We are to submit to each other (Eph. 5:18-21). We are to comfort one another (1 Thess. 4:17-18) We are to encourage one another (1 Thess. 5:11; Heb. 3:13; 10:25). We are to build each other up (1 Thess. 5:11). We are to live in peace with each other (1 Thess. 5:13) We are to “stimulate one another to love and good deeds” (Heb. 10:24). We are to confess our sins to one another and pray for one another (James 5:16). We are to serve each other (1 Pet. 4:10). We are to act humbly toward each other (1 Pet. 5:5-6). We are to have fellowship with each other (1 John 1:7; Heb. 10:25).

• We are not to judge one another or to put obstacles or stumbling blocks in each other’s way (Rom. 14:13). There are to be no divisions among us (1 Cor. 12:25). We are not to “bite” one another (Gal. 5:13-16). We are not to become boastful, challenge one another, or envy one another (Gal. 5:26). We are not to repay evil with evil (1 Thess. 5:15). We are not to forsake our own assembling together (Heb. 10:25). We are not to complain or speak against each other (James 4:11; 5:9; 1 Pet. 4:8-9).

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Our Responsibility Toward the Lost

• We believe that at His ascension, Yeshua commissioned the eleven Shliachim (Apostles) to “Therefore go, and make talmidim [disciples] of all nations, immersing them in the name of HaAbba [the Father] and of HaBen [the Son], and of Ruach HaKodesh [the Holy Spirit], teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you.” (Matt. 28:16-20). He also told them, “But you will receive power when Ruach HaKodesh has come upon you. You will be witnesses to me in Yerushalayim, in all Yehudah and Shomron, and to the uttermost parts of the earth” (Acts 1:8). We believe that commission was given directly to the Apostles and that they literally fulfilled that commission prior to their deaths before the end of the first century.

• However, we believe that the principles of our Lord’s teachings are clear and require us, as ambassadors for Mashiach, to carry on the ministry of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18-21) by availing ourselves of every opportunity to present the Gospel of Yeshua HaMashiach to a lost and dying world, “Go[ing] out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel[ling] them to come in, that my house may be filled.” (Luke 14:23) As the lost are won to Mashiach, it is our responsibility to make talmidim [disciples] of them, immerse them, and teach them the teachings of our Lord and of His shliachim, “for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Mashiach; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of G-d, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Mashiach.” (Eph. 4:12-13)

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Our Responsibility Toward Israel

• The Bible teaches that Israel has been elected by G-d out of all of the families of man to be His chosen people, to serve as a light to the Gentiles and as an example to the world of His love, compassion, providence, and righteous judgment. Moreover, G-d chose Abraham and his descendants to be the human family from which His own Son, Yeshua HaMashiach (the Lord Jesus Christ) would be born after the flesh, to be Israel’s Messiah and our Redeemer.

• The Bible teaches that Israel fell from her exalted position because of her repeated idolatry and her corporate rejection of Messiah when He first appeared [though tens, perhaps hundreds, of thousands of faithful Jews gladly received Him then], and so G-d chose to include the Gentile nations in the call to be His Miqra and to serve as His example to the world and to make Israel jealous (Rom. 11:11) so that as a nation she might awaken from her spiritual slumber and acknowledge Yeshua HaMashiach as Lord and G-d, and as Israel’s long-awaited Messiah. While we believe that Ruach HaKodesh is now calling out tens of thousands from all the tribes of Israel, we believe that the national awakening will fully come under the ministry of G-d’s 144,000 sealed Israelite bond-servants following the “Rapture¨ of the Miqra (Rev. 7).

• We believe that G-d has made numerous unilateral, unconditional, and irrevocable covenants with the household of Avraham that have not yet been fulfilled, and that because of His unchangeable nature He is faithful to fulfill all His promises. We therefore accept as self-evident that G-d is not yet finished with His chosen race until such time as they are all again living in fellowship with and obedience to Him. We believe that the Gentiles are heirs to salvation and to the wonderful promises of G-d only because G-d has seen fit to adopt them into Abraham’s family, who alone are the rightful heirs of those covenants. (Romans 11)

• Those who are Gentile “Christians” therefore own a never-payable debt of gratitude to those who are the sons of Avraham, Yitzhak, and Ya'akov after the flesh, and they owe it to Israel and to Adonai Yeshua to do all within their power to lovingly lead Judah and Israel back into faith and obedience.

• Additionally, when Mashiach returns to establish His earthly kingdom, all nations of the earth will be judged by the way they have treated Israel (Matt. 25:31-46). So all the more do the Gentile nations have an obligation to treat Israel righteously, for they are the brethren of Yeshua HaMashiach.

• We therefore believe that we have a responsibility toward G-d to provide our unconditional support to the Nation of Israel and her struggle to regain the entire Promised Land (including all the territory from the Nile River to the Euphrates River) as their eternal possession.

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http://familybible.org/About/Responsibility.htm
was last revised at 06:53 PM on Thursday, 11 September 2008