Daniel Juster, Jewish and Gentile Distinction in Messianic Congregations
•  See Dan's paper—he distributed copies at the Institute.

We're talking about identity issues, especially in relationship between Jew and Gentile in Messianic congregation and how we are to have unity.
•  In churches, this is less of an issue because Jews assimilate:
    We're all “Christians” now!
•  In Messianic congregations, though, Jews are called to live as Jews.

This was a hot issue in the 70's: how should Jews and Gentiles be relating?
•  Some believed that Gentiles should not be part of Messianic congregations.
•  Some believed that Gentiles are to be associate but not full members.
•  Some believed that Gentiles could be full members but in the minority.
•  Some believed that Gentiles should not lead Messianic congregations.
•  These issues were wrestled in MJAA, UMJC, etc.
•  Eventually all came to a common conclusion:
    Messianic congregations were for Jews and Gentiles, as God called.
    and we couldn't preclude what the Spirit would do.
•  Many Gentiles became leaders in the movement and of congregations.

Though these questions were dormant 10-15 years ago,
    they are being raised again.
•  Troubling new movements are raising identity issues for Gentiles again.
•  Ephraimite/Two House movement advocates that Gentile believers
     are descended from the ten "lost" tribes.
•  "One Law" advocates—for example, First Fruits of Zion, others in Israel—
     when a Gentile becomes a believer, he becomes a seed of Abraham,
     he is called to keep the same law as the Jew.
•  Tim Hegg argues that true Israelites are those that keep the law
     (therefore Jews who don't keep the law aren't really Israel
     --another subtle form of replacement theology).
•  Some argue that Messianic congregations are the ideal form of the church.

Something unexpected happened:
•  Messianic congregations have become largely majority Gentile.
•  We didn't expect that large numbers of Gentiles
     would want to be part of Messianic congregations.
•  Some people think this is from God, others think it's a disaster;
     it's a raging controversy.
•  Do we have a reverse replacement theology:
     Messianic congregations will replace the church?
•  Some think churches are a pagan institution, i.e., Sunday worship.
•  The meaning of a symbol is how it is defined and used in the community.
•  Words change in meaning over time.
•  So the fact that a symbol has a historical root that is pagan
     doesn't mean that it retains its pagan meaning today.
•  People from anti-tradition churches have grown up
     suspicious of any church traditions.
•  It's are all over the internet and forums on the Messianic movement.
•  It is not our goal to turn all churches into Messianic synagogues.

These questions need to be part of our discipleship in our communities.
•  Average person is asking two great questions of identity:
     Who am I? Am I of worth?
•  These questions are tied up with 2 more questions:
     Where did I come from? What is my destiny?
•  Destiny has two parts:
     What is my purpose in this life? What is my ultimate destiny?
     Am I just a bunch of randomly assembled chemicals destined to decay
     or do I have eternal life?
•  We have to answer the questions of universal identity
     before we answer those of particular identity.
•  Ephraimite movement had it roots in a person feeling rejected
     because she was not a Jew.

Genesis 1:26-27. “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creep upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created him; male and female he created them.”
•  Much foundational truth in these verses:
     God is the supreme, intelligent creator,
     with a character of perfect justice and compassion.
     He is the father of all.
•  And we are created in his image. What does this mean?
     Mormons take this literally, because they believe that God
     was originally a human being. This is an over-literalistic view.
•  Beresheet explains that image of God has to do with submitted partnership
     in ruling over creation (see also Psalm 8).
•  God's image includes all that we must have to fulfill partnership of dominion.
•  It includes our moral nature, conscience, intelligence, and our bodies,
     because all are needed to partner with him in ruling over creation.
•  The biblical view makes us pro-life,
     because we believe we are created in his image
     from the day that the sperm and egg come together.
•  Ya'akov (James) uses the image of God as an argument
     about how we are to treat all human beings.
•  The nature of Jewish people is not distinct from
     being created in the image of God.

We must emphasize who all believers are in Yeshua and who He is in us.
•  Ephesians 2:6 describes the identity and worth of all believers,
     as the inheritance of the Father:
•  “He hath raised us up together, and made us sit together
     in heavenly places in Messiah Yeshua.”
•  We sit with the king of kings in the throne room of God.
•  We do good works out of knowing who we are, verse 10:
     “For we are his workmanship, created in Messiah Yeshua for good works,
     which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”
•  People need to understand that you really are present with the Father
     in Yeshua while you are here.
•  Romans 9:24ff introduces the doctrine of adoption of Gentiles,
     coming into the family of God.
•  “Even us, whom he has called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles? As he says also in Hosea, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved.”
•  Shaul makes a midrashic interpretation--
     Hosea was not originally referring to Gentiles,
     but to Israelites who wandered away from relationship with God
     but would eventually return.
     Sha'ul's midrash is that Gentiles can do the same.

If you teach on the distinctiveness of the Gentiles, you must do so
     in the context of our identity in Messiah,
     where Jew and Gentile have equal status.
•  There is nothing higher than you get to than the status
     that you already have in Messiah Yeshua.
•  Once we know our status in Messiah,
     there should be no need for “Jewish wannabes.”
•  God has has created an interdependence between Jew and Gentile.
•  Gentiles believers have a priestly calling to the Jews (Romans 11).
•  As Jews, we cannot fulfill our destiny without them.
2 Cor 5:15ff is another important passage about our identity in Messiah:
“Wherefore henceforth we know no man in a worldly manner: yes, though we have known Messiah after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. Therefore if any man is in Messiah, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
•  In Messiah, we do not see ourselves as primarily Czech or Chinese or Jew,
     but in Messiah.
•  Each has been giving a priestly calling, as a minister of reconciliation:
•  18-20: “And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Messiah Yeshua, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; to wit, that God was in Messiah, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Messiah, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Messiah's stead, be ye reconciled to God.”
•  We have the ministry of reconciling the world and all people to God.

There is continuing distinction between Jew and Gentile
     in New Covenant congregational life
•  We have not been homogenized.
•  The God of Israel and Christian Theology recommended (though difficult).
•  The distinction between Israel and the nations is a duality
     that shows God values every ethnic group.
•  God's desire for one body is not to produce one cultural expression.
•  It is similar marriage where we have male and female in one marriage.
•  A church that is pro-Israel but doesn't encourage its Jews
     to live a Jewish life is still practicing a form of replacement theology.
Acts 15:19 -21: “Wherefore my sentence is, that we not trouble them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God: But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood. For Moses from of old has in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day.”
•  All agree say that Gentiles do not have to mee t the full requirements of Torah to be saved.
•  One could ask that Gentiles can steal or commit adultery or take the name of the lord in vain?
•  Basic morality was simply assumed.
•  "One Law" people think that Moses is read in the synagogues,
     eventually Gentiles will eventually learn to practice Judaism.
•  No reasonable scholar believes that is what is meant here.
•  When the letter is sent out to the congregations,
     it doesn't say anything about Moses in the synagogue
     or eventually following Jewish practices.
•  Why does he mention Moses?
     He is referring to a common Jewish understanding of the first century.
     Why does a Greco-Roman know so much about morality to a large degree?
     The answer of the question was that the knowledge of Moses had spread
     throughout the world, producing a Greco-Roman consensus about morality.
•  Moses read in the synagogue was seen as the best source of moral instruction.
•  See also Acts 21:18-21, which makes a distinction between Jews, who keep Moses,
     and Gentiles who only keep the limited requirements of the Jerusalem elders.
•  There is no mention of Moses taught in the synagogue in this recapitulation.
•  Galatians 5:2-3: “Behold, I Paul say to you, that if your are circumcised, Messiah will be of no value to you at all. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is obligated to do the whole law.”
•  There is no way around the distinction made here.
•  1 Corinthians 7:17-20 (probably the earliest written text of New Covenant Scriptures):
     "But as God hath distributed to every man, as the Lord has called every one, so let him walk. And so ordain I in all churches. Is any man called being circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. Is any called in uncircumcision? Let him not be circumcised. Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God. Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called.”
•  Circumcision implies living a Jewish life.
•  I.e., circumcision is not a commandment for Gentiles.
•  The key is doing what God actually commands each one when he is called.

Application: there are two views about the relationship between Jews and Gentiles in congregations.
•  One holds that when a Gentile joins a Messianic congregation, he takes up the same life.
•  The only distinction that is maintained is that Gentile doesn't say, “I am a Jew.”
•  Other congregations maintain stronger distinctions.
     A seeking of distinction of practice between Jew and Gentile,
     i.e., Gentiles may not wear tallit or be called for aliyah.
•  Tallitot are a reminder to keep all the commandments--
     all the Jews are called at this level.
•  Gentiles wear kippot in deference to Jewish custom.
•  This distinction found in some Reform congregations.
•  Or: the fringes are a symbol of priesthood and royalty, so both can wear it.
•  In the second view, Gentiles may convert to Judaism.
•  Has Torah been to Israel only or to all the nations through Yeshua?
•  Have Gentiles been called to live in Israel?
     So should they say “Next year in Jerusalem”?
Torah says that an uncircumcised person should participate in the Passover.
•  What do we do about that? The Orthodox try to follow this commandment literally.
•  In Conservative or Reform Judaism, Gentiles often participate.
     Nobody checks them at the door.
•  Dan's defense is that circumcision of the heart has changed the status of Gentiles.
•  But the question still is whether Gentiles should say
     "We were in bondage in Egypt or in the wilderness."
     Well, there is an analogy of bondage to sin and wilderness of sin.
•  One interpretation might be that the Passover
     was referring to the sacrifice lamb, not a Seder.
•  Another observation is that a mixed multitude came out of Egypt with Israel.

Some Gentiles believe they have a lifetime call to the Jewish people,
     like Hudson Taylor with the Chinese,
     with the same biblical covenantal responsibility.
•  But what about our children and grandchildren?
•  What about Marranos in our midst who desire to recover their Jewish identity?
•  In Brazil, the Marrano-descended population is huge.
     Many are in Messianic congregations.

The first question is not what Gentiles can and cannot do if Messianic congregations?
•  It should be why should a Gentile join a Messianic congregation?
•  The answer involves answering the question: What is my unique story?

Jack Jacobs, Messianic Rabbi, Beth Am Messiah
•  Jack explains how Rob DiMaggio had planted and led the congregation for 13 years
•  Then he was called to step down, leaving two leaders
•  Jack didn't think he was supposed to be the congregational leader, but God reveals His plans.
•  There was a lot of pain in who was supposed to be the leader of the congregation
•  The covering of Tikkun over the past two years helped the congregation through this period.
•  Last night, the congregation and Tikkun confirmed Jack as senior leader. Baruch Hashem!

Jack explains the Gesher (roots) program connecting with local churches
•  Proverbs 13:19: “The desire accomplished is sweet to the soul.”
•  There is a favor in this season to reach believers in churches
John 17:20-23: I do not pray for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which you gave me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and you in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that you have sent me, and have loved them, as you have loved me.”
•  Matthew Henry's commentary: Let the Gentiles be in unity with the Jewish believers.
•  He relates this prayer to Ephesians 2:15, the one new man.
•  Similarly, Coach McCartney left PromiseKeepers to help the church to discover the passion for Jews to fulfill their calling.

How do help the Church to fulfill its calling, in unity with us, to provoke the Jew to jealousy?
•  What does it take to develop trusting, nurturing relationships with the church?
•  It takes patience and diligence.
•  Jack to a weekly pastor's prayer meeting. Eventually he began to host it, with Ark open.
•  Then he got involved in Carenet, the crisis pregnancy center.
•  In the context of this relationship, he made his ministry to restore Jewish roots to the church.
•  In offered classes to the people.
•  Most Jewish believers were led to the Lord by gentiles. How much more….
•  Then he invited Gentile pastors to a Friday night service, then a county-wide Feast of Tabernacles service
•  Then the next week, the pastors said they needed to keep this momentum going
•  They got the main floor of the Palisades Mall to ministry the Jewishness of Chanukkah/Christmas. Twelve different churches and Am Israel participated, for four hours.
•  People were hanging on the railing listening, Hasidic Jews, Muslems, wondering what was going on.
•  Now they are going for round two: four hours for Passover/Easter.
•  Hear the desire of the Lord, make time for it, and something will happen.
•  Jack goes to churches every Sunday morning.
•  A few people have come to the Lord, and others are being sent to the congregation to retain their Jewish identity.
•  Jack believes it is us that need to knock on the door of the churches.
•  Next year he hopes to hear our testimony.

Dan comments: Messianic congregations have a task to disciple Jews and to reach out to the church.
•  When churches come to alignment, something happens in the heavenlies and more Jews come to the Lord.

Dan continues his teaching: the New Covenant is not teaching one new man without distinctions.
•  One reason the Shabbat and festivals were not laid upon the gentiles is that it would have dramatically hindered the spread of the good news
•  Gentiles didn't even have a seven-day week yet; slaves would not have been able to fulfill it.
•  Churches may be led by the Spirit to learn about and celebrate their Jewish roots.
•  But they do not have a covenantal responsibility to observe Torah or circumcision.

The $64,000 question is why should a Gentile be a Messianic congregation?
•  The primary reason should be commitment to the Jewish people and their salvation.
•  Any other reason produces arrogance toward the rest of the church as if it were semi-pagan.
•  Unless there is a heart burden for the Jewish people and their salvation, we will get off center.
•  We will become a search for identity movement, which produces a looking inward.
•  Parasitic movements only convert the converted. They are not effective in winning the lost.
•  The primary reason is to provoke the Jew to jealousy, to hasten the coming of the kingdom.

A secondary reason is a passionate for priesthood in Messiah.
•  A gentile should not say that he/she is Jewish. That would strike a Jew as bizarre.
•  Rather a gentile should be able to talk about the calling to serve Israel .
•  A gentile should also embrace his own ethnic background.
•  Honor your father and mother goes beyond your natural parents to honor your ancestry.
•  Recover what was good and forgive what was wrong.
•  A renewed mind which walks with Yeshua has power to discern the difference.
•  It's difficult to have a healthy heritage if they completely disdain their own heritage as gentiles.
•  Your identity is related to the story to tell.
•  Dan tells the story of a mixed marriage. He has never had a identity struggle. He is a Jerusalem Presbyterian Messianic Jew.
•  The Lord said to Dan, your calling as a Messianic leader is a product of loving your father and mother. Your calling is more a product of your Norwegian heritage than your Jewish heritage.
•  The Lord's word sent him on a search where he found out about his Norwegian forbears had a love and outreach to Jews for over a hundred years.
•  One ancestor was involved in a Jewish Christian outreach that sought to start a work in Jerusalem preparing for the return of Jews to the land, in 1840.
•  Peter Sukahiro at Mount Carmel presents himself as a Japanese-American called to present the good news in Israel . He is married to a distant cousin of Dan's whose maiden name is Juster.
•  Be honest and tell your own story and it will make a strong impression and a good testimony.

The beginning of making a distinction is in our liturgy.
•  Everyone can say Hear o Israel , the Lord our God, the Lord is one.
•  But can everyone say the liturgy about how God brought us out of the land of Egypt ?
•  What are we going to do with Gentiles at the age of bar mitzvah? Should we exclude them?
•  The historic churches have transition rites of confirmation.
•  Beth Messiah came to the desire that we wanted to train both Jew and Gentile children.
•  But the Jewish young person would profess the responsibility to live a Jewish life.
•  The gentile young person would profess to submission to the teaching of Yeshua and to take on the responsibility of proclaiming the salvation of Israel . Ben or Bat Brit Chadashah.
•  We can develop new liturgy where Jew and Gentile say something about each which shows our unity and distinctions in the one new man.
•  Dan once wrote a liturgy for a church of the city Passover celebration focusing on their unity, their destiny to proclaim the good news to Israel and the continuing prophetic calling of Israel .
•  Other distinctions are hard. Should Gentiles be called to the Torah?
•  The Torah was given first to Israel or through Yeshua the Torah is given to everyone.
•  Liturgy should express biblical truth. Our liturgy should express unity and distinctions.
•  What about weddings?
•  Let the couple determine how the wedding liturgy expresses their own calling as a couple.
•  What about funerals?
•  Jewish practices have universal value. Instead of making a big deal about the body, the Jewish tradition the body in a simple shroud and pine casket. In Israel , there isn't even a casket.
•  The burial is also simple, as soon as possible.
•  The closest friends and family provide for the grieving family, in their home.
•  It's also understood, that you are to grieve, for seven days, then for a month (but back to work).
•  Jewish customs have benefit psychologically for everyone.
•  In general, it is good to have distinction between Jews and Gentiles, but beyond liturgical content it is difficult to come up with many practices from which Gentiles are precluded.
•  There will be different senses of rightness about distinctions in different communities.
•  The key is to disciple Gentiles (and Jews) to have a passion for the salvation of Israel .

There are some Gentiles who have a lifetime calling to identify with the Jewish community.
•  Dan has called them Ruth 2 Gentiles.
•  The church as a whole should have a Ruth 1 calling.
•  When you have this level of calling, you can marry Jewish members and the Jews won't be assimilated.
•  The right way to go for people with their level of commitment is to provide special education of Judasim and Messianic calling and a celebration of their identity.
•  But Dan is not calling that ceremony conversion (despite what Peter Lundgren muttered).
•  The Scriptural norm is that people don't convert (except for those with Jewish ancestry).
•  If we call it conversion, we open up a can of worms of confusion with churches, Jews and many Messianic leaders. Dan would prefer to call it Ruth 2 Commitment ceremony.

The role of the Gentile is like Frodo and Sam in The Lord of the Rings .
•  Only Frodo could take the ring to Mordor and destroy it, but he could not have done it without Sam carrying him.
•  So there should be a loving and loyal interdependence between Jew and Gentile members.
•  Imagine if Gentiles are trained and become more effective and each one brings Jews in.
•  What God wants to accomplish will not through identity navel-gazing but by an outpouring of the Holy Spirit in people who are ready to do His will.
•  Disciple gentiles in their calling, making sure they understand their calling as well as basic Judaism, so they can become involved in the Jewish community.

What should we call congregations that are majority Gentiles and led by Gentiles?
•  The UMJC requires at least 10 messianic Jews (a minyan) in a full member UMJC congregation
•  The MJAA requires that full voting members be Jewish (but doesn't address congregations)
•  The word “Messianic” has come to mean believing in the Messiah from a Jewish orientation.
•  To the larger world the word Messianic has to do with Messiah.
•  We have our own unique sub-cultural use of the term.
•  Marty Waldman (who has a congregation of 500 people) calls his a Messianic congregation so that Jews won't wonder what's going when they meet hundreds of Southern-Baptist raised Texans.
•  Curt Landry calls his congregation as a Messianic One New Man Congregation, with 30 Jews in a congregation with over 200 gentiles.
•  But “Messianic” is still used in a way that is different from the way it's used in Jewish community.

Four things that constitute a Messianic Jewish congregation:

•  What about congregations that have few or even zero Jews?
•  Dan and Tikkun board lean towards calling it a Messianic congregation (rather than Messianic Jewish) is better for congregation with very small numbers of Jews
•  It's not an issue to enforce, nor is it an issue of doctrine, or great conviction.
•  When are we ever going to have an end to these identity issues in the Messianic movement? Maybe the answer is, when the Messiah comes!