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Trusting my Jewish Saviour- Page 2
Over the years of my growing up, I did the things that
most good Jewish boys did. I went
to the Talmud Torah -- religious school. I became Bar Mitzvah at the age of 13.
That's when I joined a Zionist youth group. I was very active in it. With my
family, I celebrated all of the Jewish holidays.
Later, after serving in World War II for three years, I attended George
Washington University in Washington, DC and was very involved with Hillel,
the Jewish centre on campus. During my last two years in college, I was on the
air with a weekly radio program called The
Jewish Life Hour.
Years later, I took a job on the staff of the United Jewish Appeal, which
led to a job with the State of Israel Bond
Office which led to a job with
a public relations firm which only handled Jewish organisations among whom were Brandeis
University and B'nai Brith. In
1955, after I went into business for myself, it developed that about 85% of my
clients were Jewish.
In time, we moved into a Golden Ghetto, joined the best Synagogue in town,
contributed generously to the United
Jewish Appeal, belonged to a Jewish Country Club, gave money to Jewish
causes, supported the Hebrew Home for the Aged and so on. And with all that
service and giving, came honours. I was a trustee of this Jewish organization, a
Board Member of several others, I was man of the year for still another. It
seemed as if the more money I gave, the more honours I received. I understood
all of that but also understood "I am a Jew. And we Jews have to take
care of our own."
What I want you to see is that I was totally immersed in the Jewish community
and in Jewish life.
No matter what else I was, being Jewish was my identity.
Those of you, who have read my books Betrayed
and Abandoned, know of the crisis
that came into our home early in 1975 when my daughter called from college to
tell me that she believed that Jesus was our Messiah.
You may remember my reaction. I felt betrayed. I felt that my daughter had just
left us, the Jewish people, and had joined them, the Christians. The very last
thing in the world that I wanted her to believe is that Jesus is the Jewish
Messiah. "If a Jew believes in Jesus" I thought, "he loses his
identity. He ceases to be a Jew and becomes a "Christian". "Who
would ever want to do that? Who would ever want to give up his identity as a
Jew?"
In order to win my daughter back, I set out to disprove the Messiahship of
Jesus.
Over the months, as I searched the Scriptures to prove who He was NOT, I found
out who He WAS! And, despite myself, soon I began to believe! No matter how hard
I tried to tell myself that believing in Jesus was absolutely impossible for me.
No matter how often I reminded myself about the Crusades and the Inquisition and
the Pogroms and the Holocaust and the hatred I had experienced as a child. I
kept hearing on the inside of me: "Yes, but it’s true Jesus really is
the Messiah!" I would argue with myself proclaiming "My identity is at
stake in this decision"!
"In view of all that I have experienced during my lifetime in view of
all the things I know about how we Jews have suffered at the hands of Christians
over the centuries how can I possibly consider leaving US and becoming part
of THEM?" The struggle went on for months.
During these months, as I continued to search the Scriptures, the time came when
I could no longer deny Jesus’ identity. Then new concerns arose. How will my
wife Ethel and my children react if I accept Jesus as Lord? How will the rest of
my family react? How will my neighbours react? How will my clients react? How
will the United Jewish Appeal react?
How will the rabbis and members of my synagogue react?
But the overwhelming question I struggled with was this: "If I accept Jesus
as my Messiah and Lord, what will happen to my identity as a Jew????"
Despite these unanswered questions, my study of Scripture
produced in me an overwhelming conviction that Jesus really is our Messiah --
and on July 3rd, 1975, I confessed Him as Lord of my life.
I did so recognizing that the Jewish community would consider me a traitor. I
did so recognizing that many of my neighbours, clients and friends would turn
their backs upon me. I did so recognizing that the Jewish organizations for
which I had worked would no longer welcome me.
For the first two years after my wife and I received Jesus as Lord of our lives,
we attended a Messianic Congregation every Friday night. And I worked hard to
help that congregation. I thought it was a way for me to retain my identity as a
Jew and be a believer in Jesus at the same time.
I remember in those early years -- the very serious conversations I had with
countless Jewish believers from all over the country -- about how we are to live
our lives. Among the questions we asked were these: "How are we Jews to
function in what is primarily a Gentile world?" "Do we remain separate
from Gentile believers, or do we worship with them?" "If we are to
worship with them, will we have to go into churches? " "Won’t this
lead to assimilation?" "Mustn’t this be avoided at all costs?"
"As an alternative, should we strive to create a synagogue for our
worship?" "If so, which kind: Orthodox, Conservative or Reform?"
"If we establish synagogues what will happen to our Gentile brothers and
sisters who want to worship with us? Won’t this make them feel like second
class citizens?" "If that happens, won’t we be violating Jesus’
prayer that we be One?"
"How will the non-believing Jewish community react to Messianic
Synagogues?" "Will they attract other Jews or repel them?"
"Most importantly, how are we to reconcile Messianic Synagogues with the
Word of God? "
As we talked about these things, dire predictions were made: Again and again I
heard people threaten: "If we don¹t keep our families in a Messianic
Congregation, our grandchildren will not be Jewish." One extreme statement
was that "If we don’t go back and keep the Law, we could wind up least in
the family of God." Round and round the discussions went for more than two
years.
Then came the pronouncements: We will identify ourselves as the Fourth Branch of
Judaism: "Messianic Judaism." We will establish "Messianic
Synagogues." We will proclaim our leaders to be "Rabbis." We will
declare that we are NOT Christians! We are Messianic Jews!!!
Though I met some wonderful people in the "movement", who seemed
fulfilled by it, I soon realized that most of them had not been raised as
"Jews" or, indeed, were not Jewish! And they were making a very
serious mistake: They were equating ALL of Jewish life with synagogue life! As I
realized these things, I also realized that I was losing my joy!
Why? For many reasons that we need not discuss at this time. Suffice it to say
that I was being encouraged to focus more on my "Jewishness" than on
my new life as a follower of Messiah Jesus!
That is when I felt the Lord guiding me to leave that congregation. Afterwards,
I thought. "Well, Telchin, now you have really done it. You took your feet
out of the traditional Jewish community and put them into the Messianic
Congregation. Now you have taken your feet out of the Messianic Congregation. So
where will you put your feet now? "How will you retain your identity as a
Jew and as a believer?"
Sobering questions. The only answer I could come up with was that I had to set
my feet upon the Rock! I had to put my total trust in the Word of God and in
Jesus, my Messiah, Saviour and Lord.
As I continued to study the Scripture, the weeks stretched into months and
the months into years. And I came to understand a number of things that have
brought me much peace. Let me share some of them with you.
I am a Jew. I was born a Jew. I have lived a Jewish life. And I will die a Jew.
No one made me a Jew! No rabbi. No teacher. No organization. My Jewishness was
not conferred upon me by public opinion
or by government edict. No one has the right or the power to take my identity as
a Jew away from me no matter how much they would like to do so. Even if it was
possible for me to reject my Jewish identity and heritage, I would never do so.
As a matter of fact, I am so comfortable and so secure in my Jewish identity
that I am not threatened by the fears and anxieties of some who would question
it.
But hear me on this: My Jewish identity is not based upon external form or
actions. My Jewish identity is not based upon whether or not I attend a
synagogue. My identity as a Jew is an inner reality. It is a God given reality!
Accordingly, I am not to become embroiled in the futile tasks of trying to
verify or justify my identity as a Jew to anyone. I don’t have to prove my
Jewishness. Not to other Jewish believers. Not to the Jewish community. Not to
the United Jewish Appeal. Not to the
State of Israel. And not to the Church!
More importantly, I learned that my "Jewishness" is not the real
issue. I can’t imagine anyone rushing into the arms of the Lord because of my
"Jewishness!" It is my relationship with God that will provoke them to
jealousy! And If Jesus truly is my Savior and the Lord of my life, my identity
really needs to be in Him.
As I continued to study the Scriptures, I found more and more confirmation of
this truth. My study of the Epistles brought me great peace. They focused my
attention upon the Word of God and the promises of God. They taught me to feast
on the Word of God. They also told me to meditate on God’s Word.
One portion of Scripture on which I meditated was the Apostle Paul’s statement
in Romans 2:25.
"Circumcision has value if you
observe the law, but if you break the law, you have become as though you had not
been circumcised" As I thought about that truth, I substituted the word
"Jewish" for the word "circumcision" and applied it to
myself.
"Being Jewish has value if I observe the law, but if I break the law, I
have become as though I was not Jewish." I was truly stunned, as I
struggled with that truth.
As I read Galatians 1:10, I was challenged in another way. Paul wrote: "Am
I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? As I meditated on this
verse, I realized, with the Apostle, that if I am
trying to please men, I will not be a faithful servant of the Messiah.
In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul said something else that was critically
important to me: In
Chapter two at verse 14, Paul wrote of the fears and concerns which existed
between Jewish and Gentile believers: "For He Himself is our peace. Who has
made the two one and has destroyed the
barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in His flesh the law with
its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in Himself one new
man out of the two, thus making peace and in this one body to reconcile both of
them to God through the cross, by which He put to death their hostility."
When Paul wrote these words, the issue was their misunderstanding of the Law.
Today for many Jewish believers, the issue is not the Law at all. It is our
flesh. Our concern is more about ourselves -- and the Jewish community – than
about God!
Paul stressed that there is one body and one Spirit … one Lord, one faith, one
baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
(Ephesians 4:4-6) He challenged us not to be "infants tossed back and forth
by waves and blown here and there" by the teachings and concerns of men.
Instead, he urged us to speak "the truth in love" and to "grow up
into Him who
is our Head".
In verse 16 of Second Corinthians 5, Paul declared: "from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of
view." Oh how that verse impacted me. I was guilty of regarding almost all
men from
a worldly point of view. Then Paul explained that if anyone is in the Messiah he
is a new creation;
the old has gone -- the new has come! Old things have passed away. Behold! All
things have become new!
We Jews -- and we Gentiles -- who are in the Messiah, are all new creations
unlike any creations, which have ever existed before. We Jews and we Gentiles
-- who believe, are equally new creations!
In God¹s sight there is no difference between us! And in our sight, there is to
be no difference between us. We were saved in the same way. We have the same
mission to accomplish. We have the same responsibility while we are on earth.
And we will all receive the same reward.
As a result of my study and prayer, I came to this understanding: Celebrating my
Jewishness is not what God wants of me! Nowhere in His Word does He tell me to
do this. But He does want me to be transformed into the image of His Son – who
always did what His Father told Him to do! I am to put off my old earthly
concern for the approval of men as I rejoice in the approval of God. I am to put
on the grace and peace, which God Himself has provided for me. Every day of my
life, I am to follow after that peace which passes understanding. I am to
continually seek the wisdom that comes from above. I am to avoid wrath and anger
and striving, as God¹s love nature become manifest in me. I don¹t have to
dance to the drumbeats of "custom" or of "tradition" or of
"old hatred" or of "fear." My God reigns! And in Him, I live
and move and have my being! I am complete in Him!
There is nothing more to add! No "ic" and no "ism"! And
nothing can be taken away!
I am a child of the King. I am sealed in His love. He knows every hair on my
head and every thought in my heart. He has forgiven me of all my
hard-heartedness and sin. He has called me to be His Ambassador. He has called
me to proclaim His nature and His love. He wants me to walk in love and in
unity. He wants me to live a life of integrity. He wants me to speak the truth
in love.
He wants me to walk in agreement with Him and with others who are in agreement
with Him. He has shown me that I am not accountable or responsible for what
other people think or do. I am only accountable for all that I think and do.
He called me to be a pastor for
fourteen years. For the past six years, I have served as an evangelist to the
Jew first, but also to the Gentile. And He has equipped me to share the miracle
of His love with all who have ears to hear. I rejoice over all of these things.
I rejoice too, that when my earthly
days are done, I will spend eternity with Him
and with all my brothers and sisters Jews and Gentiles alike.
In view of all of these Scriptural truths -- and in view of all that God has
already done in my life -- how could I not let my fleshly cares, fears and
concerns about my identity as a Jew disappear? How could I not let my spirit
soar in appreciation of His grace? How could I not totally trust my Jewish
Saviour?
And now we come to the application of this message to your life.
In all that I have written about me, I have had you in mind. If you are a Jewish
believer, I'm sure that at one time or another you have wrestled with Jewish
identity issues even as I did. It may be that you are still struggling with
them. If that is where you are today, then God has guided me to prepare this
message specifically for you. But it also has value for you, if you are not
Jewish! You may be struggling with different kinds of identity issues or you may
know people who are. So here is your word of encouragement:
Just as God waited years for me to apply to my life the Scriptural truths I have
just shared with you ... so He is waiting for each believer to apply them to his
or her life. Especially, when it comes to our very identity, each of us must
know that we can totally trust our Jewish Savior.
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