A Lover Must Also Be A Fighter

"A Lover Must Also Be a Fighter, Or Else He Is Not A Lover"

Love is not a fleeting emotion, it is not the warm fuzzies, love is not passively laying down your life, or praying for change. 
Love is active, powerful, dangerous, love is a verb and an inspiration for the greatest acts of courage and kindness. What we have done to Love, we have also done to the Messiah. 

Growing up in a rough environment, I learned to not lean on anyone not strong enough to protect you. Therefore the problem I had with the "Mr. Rogers' Messiah presented in Churches. My thinking was "Someone had the warm fuzzies enough to die for you, now they are gone, what now?" "So you want me to just take all sorts of abuse, without you protecting me, and on top of that I am not allowed to defend anyone I love?" And the hardest message of all to place your faith in. "Place your faith in someone who passively let Himself be killed, and wants to give a hug to the guys who did it."

This twisted idea we have of effeminate, motherly, Valentine's Card, Hippie, Mr. Rogers "Love" has so marred the image of the one who loved most of all, that we wouldn't recognize the Him if He returned today. In fact, when we read about Him in the Bible, most people can't believe its the same Messiah worshipped in the Churches (whom most Christians call Jesus, but whose Name is Yeshua).

When you show someone passages about Him telling His disciples to sell their sandals and use the money to buy swords, making a whip and lashing the money changers during the weekly worship service and flipping their "Love Offering" tables over, throwing the guest speakers CD's in the trash. They don't like Him telling the most powerful TBN preachers in the nation that they are a den of snakes and hypocrites, not 10 feet from thier very pulpits and camera crews, and daring them to kill Him because He will just raise from the very grave itself in 3 days and 3 nights, making many get terribly offended.

The Yeshua of the Bible isn't the Yeshua they bought a picture of at LifeWay Book store holding a sheep in his arms like a little boy does a puppy. The Yeshua of the Bible wanders around cemeteries alone and instead of running from the naked demon possessed (something close to high on crack) homeless man that is screaming at the top of his lungs and bleeding from head to toe, the one that threw Sherrif's deputees in every direction on last night's episode of COPS, the Yeshua of the Bible simply tells him to stop acting a fool and put some clothes on. And he does it.

The Yeshua of the Bible is on a ship from "Deadliest Catch" in the middle of a storm, taking a nap while the Captain of 20 years (Peter Kepha) wets his Levi's bootcut jeans. The Yeshua of the Bible has a squadron of Roman Marines and the Temple Secret Service come to arrest Him and his 12 factory worker disciples in the middle of the night, and when He says "I am He" they fall on into firing position behind their riot shields for fear of lightning coming out of His eyes and torching them. After all, He did raise a man from the dead with a whole crowd watching Lazarus claw his way out of the dirt like Night of the Living Dead, but he was fully functioning when he came out asking "whats for dinner?".Would you be afraid to draw a weapon on this man, after all, if He does that for His friends, what in the world will He do to His enemies? Go X-men on them?

You see, a Lover must also be a Fighter. Because Love requires the willingness to confront a threat, to stare down those with evil intentions, to risk everything on a one in a million chance, to tell the truth without anxiety about the consequences, to expose the wolves for wolves without fearing their teeth. Love cannot be passive, cannot be indecisive, it cannot be afraid to defend or even to destroy. Most of all, it can't be afraid of offending, of stepping on toes, of perturbing sensibilities or shattering expectations and pulling down limitations. Love may seem rude, out of place, ill-mannered or even arrogant.

Love serves the one it adores, but it doesn't worship them by becoming a doormat. Love has a higher desire than the approval of the one it adores, Love has the desire of bringing Freedom. Love has a higher desire than Safety, Comfort, and Security for the Lover and the one Adored, Love has the desire of reaching the full potential. Love abandons "what is permissible" in an unstoppable march towards what is Best. The Lover understands that to be what is needed, He cannot conform to the desires of the one it adores, He must instead be the Lover/Fighter He was designed to be. This is the only way He can serve and protect, by being What He was designed to be. Many may want a friend, a pal, a buddy, in Yeshua or an earthly husband, but what they need is a Lover and a Fighter, a leader who knows who He is, what He is here for, and how much the cost will be.

All of these things fit the role of the Redeemer and the Avenger in the Bible. Roles of the Messiah that are often forgotten in the Feminized suit and tie Churches of Spiritual Civilian America.

The Redeemer was a relative, usually an older brother, who freed you from debt slavery. The older brother was a given a DOUBLE PORTION from the Father, so He would have enough to redeem his siblings should they get into trouble. The most common way to end up in slavery was to owe more than you could pay. Since their was an entire system set up to keep people out of debt slavery, someone must have a real addiction or being incredibly foolish to have ended up a slave.
The Kinsman Redeemer would use His inheritance from the Father, and His position as the son of a powerful man, to go before the one who holds those he loves in slavery, and the Redeemer would bargain hard for the price of the one in slavery. He would then take of his double portion and pour it out at the feet of the slaveowner. He had to be strong, and intimidating, in order to get the one He loves free.

This Kinsman Redeemer loved so much in fact, that He was not only willing to risk losing His inheritance if He failed, but also His Life and His Freedom. Like Clint Eastwood in "Gran Torino", He was strong enough to destroy the ones holding those He loved hostage, but instead He gave His life to ensure that they would never be in bondage again.

Yeshua came as a kinsman (human body) to Redeem us from the things we are slaves to. We were slaves to sin because we couldn't stop sinning. When a person sinned voluntarily they were effectively signing a contract that they agreed to pay with their life. This certificate of indebtedness was spoken of by Paul and is called a "CheiroGraphon" in Greek (Handwritten Ordinances that were against us). You signed one if you went into debt, and if you couldn't pay, you were sold as a slave until your debt was paid. Messiah paid the full penalty for breaking YHVH's Law with His life. Thus redeeming us from this Written Document that says we owe our lives to pay for our sins.

He also redeemed us from not only the things that got us into slavery. He freed us from breaking YHVH's Law not by changing YHVH's Law, but by planting a desire to keep it in our hearts, and giving us His Spirit to have the power to go and sin no more. Because He doesn't want to see us selling ourselves into slavery again. He also breaks the addictions that led us to sell ourselves into slavery as well. In addition, He gave us His written Word to teach us Wisdom and YHVH's Law, so we wouldn't break YHVH's Law or do stupid things to end up in slavery to anything again. You were bought at a heavy price, and He doesn't want you going back into slavery.

Another thing He redeemed us from, aside from the Curse (Debt Owed) of Breaking YHVH's Law, is Legalism. He redeemed us from the curse of trying to think that we could just work our way out of debt slavery. For as long as we thought we could work out way out, we would live in futility trying to do it on our own, instead of letting the only one with the Double Portion of the Inheritance pay it for us. He would have to be strong, or we would not have faith in his ability to set us free.

Sometimes the case happened that even though the price of Redemption could be met, the slave owner just didn't want to release the slave. In this case, you would need a very strong Kinsman Redeemer, an eldest son ( who had a doubleportion of the Father's Strength). He would have to release the captives by force, and in Revelations we see Jesus doing just that, commanding the sea and the grave to release the captives of death who are in them.

The Avenger is also a form of Lover. If a person was accidentally killed or maimed, then a Redeemer could serve as an avenger. He would chase the one who killed or maimed his relative to extract vengeance and/or justice. This took a strong person, strong and fast and tough, because they would not only have to catch the fugitive, but also fight them when they found them, and go many days through the desert without rest like Clint Eastwood in "Pale Rider". Love and Justice are inseparable, love for the victim is measured by the Justice meted out by the avenger. The fugitive would be on a time clock, and every day that passed that he was not in a city of refuge, his clock would be ticking down. He would get more and more desperate. This is the case of Satan, he knows that he has done great harm to YHVH's people (though with malious intent) and the Avenger on the White Horse is coming for his head. He is thrown into the pit for a thousand years in the Book of Revelations (a form of Refuge and a prison), and then he dares show his head to try and harm YHVH's children again. This time he is flayed alive over an open flame, the great red dragon is like a lizard on a stick over an open campfire being roasted.

Yes, the Lover must be a Fighter, otherwise He would fail at being a Lover.

I highly recommend "Wild at Heart' John Eldredge, it looks at the problem of and cure to the Feminized Church.It changed my life, and my view of Yeshua. It has also helped alot of sons and fathers who feel the Church is trying to cut their manhood off every week.
Another great book is "No More Christian Nice Guy" by Paul Coughlin.

LOVER by Derek Webb (my favorite Christian Song)
Listen Here http://www.last.fm/music/Derek+Webb/_/Lover
Lyrics
Like a man comes to an alter I came into this town
with the world upon my shoulders and promises passed down
and I went into the water and my Father, he was pleased
I built it and I’ll tear it down so you will be set free

Yes But I found thieves and salesmen living in my Father’s house
I know how they got in here and I know how to get ‘em out
I’m turning this place over from floor to balcony
and then just like these doves and sheep you will be set free

I’ve always been a lover from before I drew a breath
some things I loved easy and some I loved to death
because love’s no politician, it listens carefully
of those who come I can’t lose one, so you will be set free

But go on and take my picture, go on and make me up
Iill still be your defender, you’ll be my missing son
and I’ll send out an army just to bring you back to me
because regardless of your brother’s lies you will be set free

I am my beloveds and my beloved’s mine
so you bring all your history and I’ll bring the bread and wine
and we’ll have us a party where all the drinks are on me
then as surely as the rising sun you will be set free