JEWS FOR JESUS

JEWS FOR JESUS

Romans 1:1-17; Acts 13:13-43

Dr. Wm. J. Maxwell

First Presbyterian Church, Newport, RI

October 8, 2006

“Jews for Jesus.” You may be familiar with this name of a Christian organization and ministry. In March of last year, Jonathan Bernd, a representative of Jews for Jews, presented in our sanctuary a “Christ in the Passover” presentation. It was a fascinating presentation of reviewing the different elements of the Passover and how they point to the Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ.

The name “Jews for Jesus” began as a catchphrase in the latter 1960’s. As a result of a great movement of the Holy Spirit, thousands of young people – many of whom were Jewish – came to faith in Jesus. In 1973, Moishe Rosen officially organized Jews for Jesus as a ministry designed to especially reach out to Jewish people with the Good News of the Gospel.

It is very interesting to me that there is a special plaque found on the headquarters building of Jews for Jesus in San Francisco. It reads: Jews for Jesus: established 32 A.D., give or take a year.” There is certainly some humor to be found here – but also a rather legitimate reference point. Since the death and resurrection of Jesus, there have always been a group of Jewish people who have believed and proclaimed “Y’shua” as the long-awaited Messiah and Christ. And the apostle Paul is one of them.

THE FIRST MISSIONARY JOURNEY

Last week, we took a look at a model church, the church of Antioch in Syria. This is where the apostle Paul and Barnabas were set apart by the Holy Spirit and commissioned by the congregation to take the Gospel to Asia.

This shouldn’t surprise us. It was only a matter of time. You may recall the original commission given to Paul, as explained to Ananias by the glorified Christ in Acts 9: This man is My chosen instrument to carry My name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel.[i] Following the moment of Paul’s dramatic conversion, he soon discovered his calling: to take the Gospel of Jesus Christ to both Jew and Gentile. And he never forgot his call to share the Gospel with both.

Years later, in his letter to the largely Gentile church in Rome, Paul stated his position and his calling: I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith.’” [ii]

In this same letter, Paul indicated that God was doing a great work in the world in converting many Gentiles to faith in Jesus Christ. But Paul never lost a passion for the salvation of his own Jewish people. Listen to what he says to the church in Rome:

Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. Christ is the end of the law so that there might be righteousness for everyone who believes. [iii]

As a matter of fact, Paul was so passionate about the Jewish people coming to faith in Christ that – if it were ever possible – he was willing to be eliminated from the Christian faith if they were only all brought into the Christian faith. As he stated it,

I speak the truth in Christ – I am not lying, my conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit – I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen. [iv]

So, it has been rightly said that the majority of Paul’s mission work was given to the Gentiles, as Paul even admitted himself. [v] But we must never forget that Paul was also interested in reaching his own people with the Gospel. We see this clearly in our text, as the first place Paul and Barnabas went to in Pisidian Antioch … was the synagogue!

THE SYNAGOGUE AND THE SERMON.

As was the case for most other synagogues, this synagogue included at least four groups of people who worshiped together on the Sabbath. First, there were the Jews who were born Jewish, either in that area of the world or in Israel. Secondly, there were converts to Judaism in the synagogue. Thirdly, there were so called “God-fearers,” Gentiles who believed in God and observed the Jewish law, but who refused to be circumcised. Fourthly, there were the Gentiles who displayed an interest in Judaism, but who did not make any formal commitment.

Paul and Barnabas could reach out to all these people groups at the same time, with a ready made preaching situation consisting of a building, regularly scheduled meetings, and a people familiar with the Old Testament Scriptures.

But Paul also began here, because God’s redemptive plan began primarily with God choosing the patriarchs and the nation of Israel to be the source of the coming of the Messiah, who would in turn be a blessing to all the world. Paul’s sermon indicates this very clearly. He explained how God’s redemptive purposes continued through the lives of the Patriarchs to David and from David to Jesus, in His life, death and resurrection. He explained the full course of redemption and used Scripture references to fully support this message of salvation.

He then urgently appealed to them to take seriously this Gospel message:

Therefore, my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through Him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses.

He made it quite clear to them – and to us – that this good news of the Gospel offers through Jesus Christ the forgiveness of all our offenses against God and the relinquishment of all guilt that can weigh and hang so heavily upon us. It occurs through faith and trust in Y’shua – Jesus, not in ourselves. All attempts to meet and fulfill the demands of the Mosaic Law are futile. All attempts to reach and maintain a certain level of right-standing with God only lead to frustration, because no one can possibly do this. We must look elsewhere – we must look to Jesus who has accomplished this for us.

APPLICATION FOR TODAY.

As we look at this sermon, the most obvious point of application for us is the necessity of the Gospel. As we look to ourselves – have we, as individuals, trusted in what God has done for us in Jesus Christ? Are we relying solely and completely upon the merits of Christ’s life, death and resurrection? Or are we relying on Christ and some personal merit on our own, thrown in for good measure? Or perhaps we’re not relying upon Christ at all?

There is no other Good News or Gospel message than this, dear friends. We are saved and put into a relationship with the living, holy and awesome God by God’s grace alone, through faith in Jesus Christ alone. This is the message of the New Testament and of the early Church. It is the central message of the Church today, for there is no hope, no life or light, apart from resting upon Christ and resting in Christ.

The other note of application for us is the universality of the Gospel. We must never forget Paul’s own affirmation, that the “Gospel is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes, first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.” Everyone – Gentile and Jew – needs to hear and respond positively to the invitation of God in the Gospel, to have a relationship with Him by grace through the person of Jesus Christ.

Steven Wertheim believes this today, but he didn’t as a Jewish child growing up in the Bronx in the 1950’s. The residents in his neighborhood were either Jewish or Catholic and fights between the kids broke out on a regular basis. When the fights became intense, it was often that Steven or one of his friends would be called “Christ killer.”

Steven would ask his parents why the kids were so mean to them and they shared their belief that many Christians hated Jews simply because they were Jews. The Holocaust came up and for good reason – during Kristallnacht in Germany, Steven’s grandfather’s business and everything his grandfather owned were taken away from him. The Nazis eventually came and took him away, leaving his father, sisters and mother all alone. Steven was told quite often by his parents of the cruelty they had endured from “the Christians.” That’s why Steven wanted nothing to do with Y’shua.

But several years later, as an adult living in California, Steven encountered Baruch and Marcia Goldstein. In ensuing discussions, Steven discovered their belief in Jesus and exclaimed, “You can’t be Jewish and believe in Jesus!” He thought it was impossible, even revolting! But it was only a matter of time before their winsome witness was used to bring Steven to the Savior.

I prayed with Baruch, asking God to forgive my sins on the basis of Jesus’ atoning death. And I asked God to help me to follow Y’shua (Jesus) and live a life that would please God. Afterwards, I felt a peace that I had not experienced before. But before long the uppermost thought in my mind was that I had to tell my parents. [vi]

Needless to say, this was a most intimidating challenge for Steven. It was an extremely difficult and tense situation for quite some time. But by the grace of God, eventually both Steven’s brother and father came to believe and trust in Jesus as the Messiah. The real holdout was his mother, who let them all know that she didn’t want to hear anything more about this Jesus.

God in His mercy was not finished with this family, however. Due to a turning of several events, Steven’s mother ended up seeing a film about Corrie ten Boom, the Dutch Christian who hid Jews during the Holocaust. She was deeply moved by this film and by the life of Corrie. The wall that she had built around her mind and heart was starting to crack.

She realized that her reasons for holding out from what the rest of the family believed didn’t have so much to do with who Jesus was as who she thought Christians were. The film helped her to see that people who truly love Jesus also love the Jewish people. Within a couple of weeks, my mother embraced Jesus as Messiah.

Of course, Steven was thrilled! “Who would have believed that our entire family would be reunited as Jews who all believe in Jesus? Or that I would one day meet and marry another Jewish believer in Jesus?”

The Apostle Paul may be seen as one of the first “Jews for Jesus.” He gladly proclaimed the Good News of Jesus to Jews, as well as to Gentiles, for every human being is in need of such a message of hope and of reconciliation with the living God.

Today, centuries later, there are many “Jews for Jesus.” No, not just in the organization and ministry of that name alone, but with many people, such as Steven Wertheim.

Dear friends, do not believe the lie that tells us to withhold the Good News from others in the name of diversity and tolerance. Today, I believe if we were to ask Steven Wertheim, “Is it intolerant of us Gentile Christians to believe that Jews also need the Gospel, just as we do,” I suppose he would smile and say, “Of course not. After all, it all started with us!”