MESSIANIC PRAISE

“...to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” (from Romans 1:16)

Yesterday (Saturday, August 16, 2008) it was my pleasure to speak at Congregation Beit Techiya in Foxborough.  “Beit Techiya” is a Messianic Jewish congregation.  I know that raises a lot of questions.  I’m sure if you do an on-line search for “Messianic Judaism” you will find quite a bit of information.

Up until somewhere around 1970, if a Jew “received Jesus Christ as his Personal Lord and Savior” and became a “born-again Christian” he was pretty much through with being a Jew.  There were more Jews who became born-again Christians in the pre-1970 days than you might guess.  An early Assemblies of God writer and scholar, for instance, was Myer Pearlman.  He wrote the “Ministers’ Manual” (you know, the “little black book”) that I use for weddings, funerals, and all that sort of thing.  The business manager of Central Bible College in the 1970s was also a born-again Christian from a Jewish background.   In those days, they were often called “Jewish Christians” or “completed Jews”.  Somewhere around forty years ago, a movement began which encouraged born-again Christians from Jewish backgrounds to remain Jewish in a new movement called Messianic Judaism.  (This is NOT necessarily to be confused with “Jews For Jesus” which is a separate, “parachurch”, SOMETIMES controversial and confrontational organization.)  In Messianic Judaism, the houses of worship are called “synagogues”.  The organization of the synagogue is very similar to traditional Judaism, with each synagogue having a President and a Rabbi.  Jewish holidays are celebrated.  The day of worship is Saturday “Shabbat”.  In some cases, Christian holidays such as Christmas and Easter are celebrated along with Jewish holidays, but in most cases, it’s strictly the Jewish holidays that are celebrated.  Messianic Jews call themselves exactly that.  Most DON’T like to be called “Christians”, although some don’t mind that moniker. 

Messianic Jews are frequently disliked  and misunderstood.  Most traditional Jews do not consider them Jews but rather “Christians”.  I’d say at least half of Gentiles and Christians consider them Jews!  Some evangelical Christian scholars have been quite critical of Messianic Jews, saying their very existence causes division in the Body of Christ.  But there ARE those evangelical Christians who have praised the Messianic Jewish movement which has brought scores and scores of Jews to “personal faith in their Messiah”.  I’m of the opinion that Messianic Judaism is a good thing.

The Foxborough congregation is small and has a female Rabbi.  The service was kind of long...at least two and a half hours.  There were many elements of traditional Judaism in the service.  We had hard cover liturgical books we were reading from, and some traditional Jewish songs we were singing.  Something very NON-TRADITIONAL, however, was prayers of thanksgiving in Hebrew and English for Yeshua (Jesus) the Messiah.  Many Protestant pastors have been invited to come and speak at Beit Techiya but according to the Rabbi, I’m the first to do so.  I used the New Testament which was fine with them and the sermon was well received. 

After the service we had Oneg Shabbat in an adjoining facility.  “Oneg” means “delight”.  Oneg Shabbat is a meal.  The meal was kosher.   Wine was served, but grape juice was available for those who (like me) don’t drink alcohol.   The fellowship was great and I had a good time!

For me, it’s like I had TWO Sundays and no Saturday this weekend!  Of course for the Messianic Jews, Saturday is like Sunday and Sunday is like Saturday.  Incidentally, one of the criticisms of Messianic Judaism is that up to 50% of the congregations are typically made up of Gentiles who are “wanna-be Jews”.  That WAS true at Beit Techiya.  I’d say probably about half of the people were Gentiles by birth.  Even so, about half were born Jews and had spent years worshipping at traditional synagogues.  It was obvious they were much more comfortable at a place like Beit Techiya than they’d be at a place like First Assembly of God of Framingham. 

For me Sunday as my “day of worship” and Protestantism (and previously Catholicism)   have been so engrained in me that I don’t know if I’d be comfortable worshipping at a Messianic Jewish synagogue all the time.  Even so, I was invited to drop in for the service any Saturday I’d like to, and frankly, once in awhile, I will!