Good News

To the Jew First

Why "To the Jew First"?

The previous two essays (about praying with people and praying about sharing) discussed issues very general to sharing the good news. They also kept mentioning how these general issues related to Jewish unbelievers.

Why our focus on Jewish unbelievers? There are several important answers:

1. It is scriptural to prioritize sharing the good news with Jewish people. Not only did those apostles who considered themselves "emissaries to the Jews" do this, but Paul who considered himself an "emissary to the Gentiles" also did this in every new city he traveled to.
2. It is practical to prioritize sharing the good news with Jewish people. Since uneblieving Jews tend to be resistant to the good news for both cultural and spiritual reasons, an individual or congregation who is able to effectively share the good news with an uneblieving Jew is able to do so with anyone!
3. It is interesting to share the good news with Jewish people. Followers of Yeshua who are not knowledgable about the Jewish roots of their faith can begin to learn about this from the unbeleiving Jews with whom they are sharing the good news. Conversations that are a "two way street" are more worthwhile and enjoyable. Also, Jewish culture prompts people to think carefully about sharing the good news.
4. It is important for Yeshua's return to share the good news with Jewish people. In Romans 11 Paul says that when Gentile followers of Yeshua achieve a "fullness" in sharing the good news with Jewish people this will bring "life from the dead". There are different interpretations of what this means, but clearly this "fullness" must proceed Yeshua's return.
5. It is part of the Messianic Vision to help God bring Yeshua's revival and transformation to local Jewish communities, so congregations like P'nei Adonai that are committed to the Messianic Vision are especially focused on sharing the good news with Jewish people. (After all, there are plenty of Churches in any town that are sharing the good news with everyone else!)

Before we begin, it is worth emphasizing that prioritizing sharing the good news with Jewish people does not mean doing the sharing in a rude or pushy manner. As those two previous essays explained, the most effective way to share the good news is by politely praying with people and for people. This can be done kindly and humbly, emphasizing our common dependence upon God and benefit from past and current yirat Adonai and teshuvah.

A Christian professor, Daniel Niles, once said that "Evangelism is one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread." Individuals may not want to hear about how God himself, as Yeshua, came and re-established his Kingdom, providing all individuals with the ability to enter this Kingdom and experience the peace and victory of being made innocent by the work of God. But this good news can (and should) be shared in a such a polite manner that even those resistant individuals (if also polite) would admit that were this news true then the rude act would be not making any attempt to share it.

Scripture's Priority

The four following sections describe practical benefits to doing so. There are hints in Paul's writings that he continued to prioritize sharing the good news first with the Jewish people because of these practical reasons rather than a divine command.

Practical for Effectiveness

Most of those who were the not resistant were the devout "common people" who were not part of any political party. In Acts 2:41 we read of three thousand such people deciding to follow Yeshua on the day of Shavuot, when the Holy Spirit was first put upon and within Yeshua's followers. Soon Jerusalem alone had more followers of Yeshua than there were Pharisees, Essenes, and Sadducees in all of Israel! (Compare Acts 21:20 with Josephus Antiquities 13.298, 18.20, 17.24.)

These people were not resistant to the good news because through personal experience or second-hand information they knew of Yeshua as a prophet and miracle-worker, and were ready to understand good news that involves a plethora of Jewish concepts:

• the evil inclination	• sin vs. iniquity	• slavery to sin and iniquity
• victory over slavery to sin	• joyful obedience of Torah	• light to the nations
• people redeemed by God	• people of God	• Kingdom of God
• messiah	• God's Spirit	• God as King of Kings
• turning to God in repentance	• immersion	• eternal life

In contrast, Gentiles of the Roman Empire knew nothing of these concepts, so sharing the good news with them would have to involve introducing and explaining so much more!

On the other hand, there were many Jewish people with a great personal investment in one of the other Jewish sects, or great personal reluctance to surrender control of their lives to God. Scripture records the stories of many such people, including the religious leaders of Jerusalem who brought Yeshua to the Romans to be killed.

Interestingly, Yeshua told his followers to share the good news first in Jerusalem (where the people violently against them lived), then in the rest of Israel, and then "to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8). Why would he ask his followers to do the most difficult and dangerous task first?

The answer is recorded in Acts 2-8. Since the followers of Yeshua needed to rely on God to have any success, they did so, and the result was the creation of a community with radically changed lives and true discipleship after Yeshua.

People who have only expressed agreement to an oversimplifed or false version of the good news (such as "Yeshua died so that after I die I can be with God" or "Yeshua died so that God can forgive me") will, through no fault of their own, lack the yirat Adonai and teshuvah necessary to really be Yeshua's disciples and have lives free from slavery to sin and iniquity. Sharing the actual good news with people resistant to it is the best way to prevent any oversimplification. Only the actual good news shares the power of the Kingdom of God.

These dynaimcs are still true today. If you do not understand those concepts listed above as a first-century Jew would then you are probably also misunderstanding the good news. If you cannot effectively share the good news with people who are resistant to it then you are probably also ineffective in helpfully sharing the good news with people who are not resistant.

Interesting Conversations

Examples include the Jewish holidays, what happens at a synagogue serive, what words like "shalom" or "chesed" or "Shabbat" mean to individuals, the difference between "religion" and "spirituality" and how these should ideally relate, appreciating the beauty of God's creation, and personal stories of spiritual growth or answered prayer.

Furthermore, because Jewish culture has much variety yet is also unusually well-defined, many important insights about sharing the good news are revealed by trying to share the good news with Jewish people.

First, people often mix religion with culture and politics. Those trying to share the good news with Jewish people are reminded that to clearly share the good news it must be repeatedly emphasized that the good news is about Yeshua, not culture or politics.

Second, people can be very interested in mercy and compassion without being followers of Yeshua. American Jews are predominantly liberal Democrats because that party is traditionally more focused on acts of mery and compassion. Those trying to share the good news with Jewish people are reminded that most people are what secular society calls "good people" even if they are not what God calls "righteous" or "holy".

Third, most Jews are somewhat familiar with certain stories and teachings from scripture but do not themselves read scripture often, if ever. Those trying to share the good news with Jewish people are reminded that many people consider themselves "followers of God" even if they have only vague and second-hand ideas about the God they are attempting to follow, and that sharing what scripture says need not include citing chapter and verse numbers. Within Jewish culture, an especially relevant example is how central the concept of messiah has been for almost all of Jewish history, yet how quickly it has disappeared from much of modern American Jewish culture.

Fourth, most Jews pray often, but do not understand how prayer works in the Kingdom of God. Those trying to share the good news with Jewish people are reminded that showing people how prayer works in the Kingdom of God is a powerful witness of the truth of the good news.

Fifth, many Jews are seeking a more personal relationship with God than Rabbinic Judaism provides. Jewish people participate in New Age and Eastern religious philosophy in a much higher proportion than their percent of the population, and others adopt a "cause" with a religious devotion as a substitute for genuinely religious activity. Those trying to share the good news with Jewish people are reminded that people can have a commendable zeal to better know God and do what is "good for their soul" even if they do not yet know the good news.

Sixth, as with any ethnic group, the Jewish community has jokes and jargon that are appropriate for "insiders" to use that would be offensive if said by "outsiders". Those trying to share the good news with Jewish people are reminded that different cultures have different rules about what is rude or polite.

Seventh, Jewish people tend to be very sensitive to hypocrisy. Those trying to share the good news with Jewish people are reminded that it is unappealing to blindly practice traditions or to bitterly reject traditions: experiencing God's presence should lead to a genuine and appealing appreciation of Torah and tradition.

Finally, like all people, Jewish people want peace, purpose, meaning, joy, and the abundant zeal of knowing they are right with God. Those trying to share the good news with Jewish people are reminded to check their own lives, that they are allowing Yeshua to provide all of these blessings.

An Eschatological Calling

In Acts 13:44 to 14:2, Paul is talking with Jewish people who are resistant to the good news. He tells them that God is using the followers of Yeshua to replace them as the "light to the nations" of Isaiah 49:6. Now the best example of living according to God's ways must include being a disciple of Yeshua and experiencing the good news.

Even after encountering intense resistance from Jewish people, Paul continues to prioritize sharing the good news with Jewish people in every location he visits. In Romans 10:1-4 he explains one reason why:

Brothers, my heart's desire and my prayer to God is for Israel, is for their salvation, for I can testify to their zeal for God. But it is not according to complete knowledge, for, being unaware of God's way of making people righteous and seeking to establish their own they have not submitted themselves to God's way of making people righteous. For the goal at which the Torah aims is the Messiah, who offers righteousness to everyone who trusts.

Paul continues making this personal in verse 10:14:

But how can they call on someone in whom they have not trusted? And how can they trust in someone if they have not heard about him? And how can they hear without someone proclaiming?

However, Paul has learned of a fascinating truth: just as the Jewish followers of Yeshua are now God's "light to the nations", the Gentile followers of Yeshua are a parallel "light to the Jews".

Even though the followers of Yeshua have become the largest Jewish sect, most Jews still do not believe. This is part of God's plan, since God wants the Gentile followers of Yeshua to be the "light to the Jews". Paul explains this in Romans 10:18-19, by citing Psalm 19:5(4) and Deuteronomy 32:21:

But I ask, didn't they hear? Yes, most indeed, for "their voice has gone out throughout all the world, and their words to the ends of the earth." So I ask, why didn't Israel acknowledge? Even Moshe said why: "I will provoke you to jealousy with a non-nation, with a nation void of understanding I will make you angry."

Paul then elaborates in Romans 11. First he explains in verses 11:11-15 that when unbelieving Jews are properly provoked to jealousy by Gentile followers of Yeshua this will bring about "life from the dead". Whatever this means, it is surely a desirable thing, and Paul says it is something greater than when salvation was made available the Gentiles! It is also clearly an eschatological requirement before Yeshua's return (whether we interpret it metaphorically as an unparalleled spiritual revival, literally as a resurrection of the dead, or both.).

In verse 11:25 Paul continues, saying that when the Gentile Believers have "fullness" then all of Israel will be saved. In context, this "fullness" is a fullness of doing their role of provoking unbelieving Jews to jealousy. (The translation "full number" is inaccurate.)

Thus followers of Yeshua who want him to return soon (a desire all Yeshua's followers should share!) should take seriously the calling of Gentile believers to be a "light to the Jews", and help Gentile churches to understand this calling and be effectively doing it! (May God use our essays about the good news as one small part in this effort.)

The Messianic Vision

Messianic Jewish congregations want to help their local Jewish community become what God desires: a community that retains its Jewishness while being revived and transformed by the salvation over sin and iniquity offered by Yeshua, the power of the Holy Spirit to enable people to be holy and obedient to Torah, and the power of the Kingdom of God.

Admittedly, this goal is best achieved by Gentile followers of Yeshua, for the spiritual and prophetic reasons just described. But until the Gentile followers of Yeshua awaken to this calling, Messianic Jews are bearing the responsibility of sharing the good news with unbelieving Jews. Even after the Gentile followers of Yeshua awaken to this calling, Messianic Jewish congregations will remain places that proclaim that many Jews do follow Yeshua, and they do so while remaining Jewish.