A recent article by the Christian Post details a growing call on Christian Zionist groups to state publicly whether they support evangelizing Jews. A task force on Jewish Evangelism issued a statement,
“We believe that calling the Jewish people to accept Jesus (Y’shua) as the Messiah both of Israel and all nations is the biblical mandate and natural loving response to the belief that there is salvation only through personal faith in Jesus Christ. Yet, we recognize that some aspects of Christian Zionism as practiced today, work to the detriment of the Jewish people inasmuch as they undermine Jewish evangelism. We believe they can dilute the gospel message by offering comfort apart from Christ, discourage evangelical Christians from witnessing to their Jewish friends and divert gospel resources which could be channeled toward Jewish evangelism.”
-Resolution passed at the 26th annual meeting of the Lausanne Consultation on Jewish Evangelism (LCJE) – North America.
I have mixed feelings about this resolution.
Yes, Messiah is the only way to God
On the one hand, I wholeheartedly and without hesitation say that Messiah is the only way to God. I feel strongly about this because of Messiah’s own statement in the gospel,
I am the way, truth, and life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.
-Messiah to his disciples
Let me say first, I love Judaism. I love my Jewish brothers, yes, the non-Christian ones. To tell the truth, I envy their zeal and good works. The good done through Judaism is something to thank God for. The innumerable good works done in the name of HaShem through various streams of Judaism, such as Chabad, are a testament to the righteous, hands-on nature of God’s Torah. Thinking to myself, I’ll contrast these good works of the synagogue with the evil works done by the Church of the Middle Ages in the name of Christ, such as the expulsion of Jews from Spain or the various pogroms and persecution and murders of Jews, and I think that unbelieving Jews have been doing the job of Messiah-followers for the last 2000 years.
But despite all the failures of the Church, we must concede that no one – from the devout, righteous rabbi to the zealous Chabnik – none of these comes to HaShem without Yeshua, the Messiah. That is why we call Messiah, “Hope of Israel”, Yeshua is the only hope for God’s people Israel.
In this sense, I applaud the resolution when it encourages us to be open about faith in Messiah. I also applaud it for speaking out against the few organizations that claim Jews are OK with God as-is, no Messiah required; the Scriptures tell us otherwise.
Problems with this resolution
On the other hand, I am uncomfortable with this resolution because it feels like it’s asking all who love Messiah and love Israel to go out on the streets and start preaching on a soapbox. Maybe that’s not the intent, but it’s the feeling one gets when chided, “Why aren’t you being more open about Jesus?”
Then Jesus the Christ rose early Sunday morning and went to the synagogues in all of Palestine, proclaiming to the Jews, “Are you SAAAAAAVED, brother???!!! You’re going to hell without me! Can I get an amen?!” He then handed out tracts which were promptly thrown in the trash.
-Imaginary gospel, this didn’t happen
The language of the resolution seems to suggest we should not offer comfort to Jews without first offering the message of Christ. This is a problem. The idea of conversion to Christianity as a prerequisite to offering comfort and aide to God’s people is something that goes against the gospel, goes against pure religion. As one believer in Messiah wrote in the Scriptures,
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
-James, in his letter to all 12 tribes of Israel
James did not say, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure is this: convert the widows and orphans to Christianity, then help them in their distress.”
I’m extremely uncomfortable with the idea of Jewish conversion to Christianity, truth be told. I prefer to think Jews need not change religions to believe in our own Jewish Messiah. I’m a Jew, I believe in Messiah, and I don’t consider myself part of the Church.
Christian salesmen
I have a general, overall negative attitude towards all this because it feels like that old salesman version of Christianity. You know, that one where it feels like you’re trying to sell something, in this case, eternal salvation. I’m peddling Jesus, you heathen Jews!
It further suggests a feeling that Messianics and other Messiah-loving Zionists exist only to convert Jews to Christianity. By contrast, we see Messianic Judaism as a larger part of God’s move to restore Israel. We do not see this move of God as a Jewish-flavored version of Christianity that exists only to bring in more converts to the Church.
While a novice idealist might say, “Just go preach the gospel! Tell them about Jesus! John 3:16, brother!”, the experienced pragmatists among us know this really doesn’t work, especially for Jews. Too many are burnt out on religious clichés.
Some would go farther and say such an approach isn’t right at all, as it omits crucial parts of the gospel and the special Jewish relation to it: how does God’s eternal commandments in the Torah factor in? Does this “preaching Jesus” allow for the Jewish culture and special Jewish relation to God; are they going to become pork-eating gentiles within a generation? Where does this leave discipleship, following the Master’s example of Torah observance? Or are you just trying to win someone over to your religion?
Messianic rabbi Derek Leman writes,
With great apology to Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses everywhere, we have to remember the Jewish community is about as enthusiastic about mingling with Messianic Jews as most Christians are about mingling with Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses.
We are perceived as people with a sales agenda. As long as we are feared as having the socializing motives of a local Amway distributor, we are going to be unwelcome ("hi, nice to meet you...we're having a party at my house next month and you're invited...").
I do participate in the Jewish community. I do not wear my faith on my sleeve. I do not come with an agenda. I do not think that it is effective or helpful to bring up controversial matters with mere acquaintances in Jewish space. Those who befriend me discover my faith easily enough. And the only people who care to listen to my ideas are those who know me or know enough about me to care what I think.
On a few occasions I joined a minyan (prayer group) and let the rabbi know in advance I was Messianic but had no intention of conversing with those in the minyan. I came to talk to God with the community and not to sell a message. I don't believe any good would come from attending minyan and meeting people to talk with them about Yeshua. To talk with them about Yeshua, I would need to meet them through another venue.
Some will say I should be more open about my faith and try harder. I have lived that life before. I did it for 5 1/2 years and it never produced anything but discord. By contrast, in meeting Jewish friends on more neutral ground or on Messianic ground, I have found very little discord.
Our primary purpose is not to be door-to-door Christianity peddlers, folks. I’m not a religious salesman. Yes, Messiah told us to “Go into the world and preach the gospel”, but the traditional Christian ideas of standing on a soapbox and preaching in the streets isn’t very helpful in this case. What’s more, the Christian definition of the gospel is lacking and partial and very Church-oriented.
When my younger brother left last year to live permanently in Israel, all of our Christian family members and friends mistakenly thought he did so in order to missionize and convert Jews to Christianity, offering him missionary how-to’s and books and other materials. Why is it that Christians assume a believer going to another country automatically means he’s going to missionize? We’ve been so conditioned to believe missionizing is the only purpose of Messiah-lovers abroad; why is it hard to understand this idea of service? To live a life of service to the Lord and servitude toward others, without any prerequisites or gotchas, – no strings attached – why is this so foreign to our faith in Messiah? Have we become mere religious salesmen, where we love, offer comfort to, and aide only those who’ve bought our product?
As one Jew put it, what this world really needs is for men to wash one another’s feet, to serve each other. More servants, fewer masters. Ideally, only one Master.
We are called to be servants of God, disciples of Messiah, imitators of the Master and teacher HaMoshiach Yeshua. Perhaps a pragmatic approach to spreading Messiah’s Good News is living by example. As Derek said,
Those who befriend me discover my faith easily enough. And the only people who care to listen to my ideas are those who know me or know enough about me to care what I think.
I’m a disciple of the Master Yeshua, which means following God best as I can, according to the way he told us in Torah and showed us through his Torah-observant life. I want my life and actions, not just my cheap words, to be the thing that causes people to see, many to trust that Yeshua is indeed the Messiah of Israel.